Alex Schmidt of Cracked makes a passionate (and hilarious) argument for DC putting Superman and Batman into the public domain, pointing out that comics companiesmake a hell of a lot of money on public domain characters from Sherlock Holmes and Thor.
Schmidt points to the Copyright Term Extension of 1998, passed after strenuous lobbying by Disney, as the primary culprit for keeping these characters in private hands, and makes a compelling case that allowing anyone to make new art with characters we all know lets the best stuff rise to the surface, while keeping the characters in the hands of a few risk-averse corporations produces a string of largely mediocre, risk-averse properties like Batman vs Superman.
Copyright term extension will be back on the table next year, and all the players who lined up in 1998 will be back for another 20 years’ worth of copyright for works whose creators have been dead for at least 70 years. Videos like this are a reminder that we’d better get ready for a hell of a fight after this next election.
(via Techdirt)