Re: the point raised by Michael Olds:

> Australia is a member of the Bern Convention and therefore has
> the same copyright laws as the US and England. That means copyright is based
> on the date of death of an author or authors. And the term is 75 years not
> 70...it was extended.

That is not correct; in Australia, the law is 50 years from the date of the
author's death. Fifty years --not 70 or 75. And this is being actively
exploited by the following free e-text website, which quotes the law in
question:
http://gutenberg.net.au/

As I understand the Bern Convention (and I am susceptible to error) it only
involves one country recognising another's law, not the harmonization of the
laws themselves. Thus, Mickey Mouse was invented in the U.S.A., and his
american copyright (with duration, etc., determined by U.S. law) will be
observed in the U.K., and other signatories to the treaty. HOWEVER, this
does not mean that the British house of Parliament has no control over its
own copyright laws; if they decide to change or abrogate their own laws,
they may do so, but it will only apply to British inventions --obviously,
they do not have sovereignty over America, nor vice-versa.

The number of countries on the map that do not have any such laws is small,
likely to grow: the AIDS epidemic is causing many to reconsider the right of
"intellectual property" when weighed against the misery of millions.

E.M.

--
A saying of the Buddha from http://metta.lk/
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Should a person commit evil, he should not do it again and again; he should
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Random Dhammapada Verse 117