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If you liked Lessig’s much-linked NYTimes editorial Protecting Mickey Mouse at Art’s Expense from a couple of weeks ago, or perhaps just noticed today’s Foxtrot, you might want to check out Lessig’s FAQ on the proposed Eric Eldred Act, which suggests requiring a tax be paid by copyright holders who wish to extend their copyright beyond some term (say, 50 years), thus allowing Disney to pay to keep Steamboat Willie out of the public domain (which they presumably believe still has monetary value) while allowing other less profitable works to become available on a reasonable schedule. The FAQ also fills in some of the details of what rules any copyright compromise needs to fit, such as the requirements of the Berne Treaty.

I suspect all my readers have already seen the ruling this week in Eldred v. Ashcroft – if you haven’t, pretty much everything you might want to read about it is collected at Lessig’s homepage with some interesting personal comments in his blog there as well. It seems like a worthwhile time to remind people who are bothered by the ruling and current copyright law in general that, on top of trying to change the law, the on-line book community is doing a lot to show the desire for and power of freely available public domain works – and they’re always looking for donations of person-hours or money. The Online Books Page has a long list of ways to get involved, as well as being a wonderful portal into the collections of freely available books on the web. Project Gutenberg is also a good place to explore, and they’re looking for volunteers for tasks as simple as proofreading. It’s a positive thing you can do for the worldwide community while showing a demand for new works to enter the public domain. Perhaps it can act as another piece in the puzzle of convincing Congress to get their heads on straight.