Law Commons^™

Do Bad Things Happen When Works Enter The Public Domain?: Empirical Tests Of Copyright Term Extension, Christopher Buccafusco, Paul J. Heald

Faculty Scholarship

According to the current copyright statute, copyrighted works of music, film, and literature will begin to transition into the public domain in 2018. While this will prove a boon for users and creators, it could be disastrous for the owners of these valuable copyrights. Therefore, the next few years will likely witness another round of aggressive lobbying by the film, music, and publishing industries to extend the terms of already-existing works. These industries, and a number of prominent scholars, claim that when works enter the public domain, bad things will happen to them. They worry that works in the public …