Lessig and company have authored a petition to Congress, asking them to pass the Eric Eldred Act to preserve the public domain. Under this proposal, rights-holders who want to retain their copyrights beyond 50 years need to pay a dollar per work at the 50 year mark (tax-deductible) to register the copyrights. When the Supremes heard the Eldred case, they heard that 98% of the works in copyright are lying fallow, earning nothing for anyone, out of print and not available to the public. In this proposal, the 2% of copyrights that earn money can go on earning money, while the remaining, vast majority will be rescued from history's dustbin.
One solution in particular that we ask Congress to consider is the Public Domain Enhancement Act. See http://eldred.cc This statute would require American copyright owners to pay a very low fee (for example, $1) fifty years after a copyrighted work was published. If the owner pays the fee, the copyright will continue for whatever duration Congress sets. But if the copyright is not worth even $1 to the owner, then we believe the work should pass into the public domain.
This legislation would strengthen the public domain without burdening copyright owners. It would also help clarify rights over copyrighted material, which in turn would enable reuse of that material. The law could thus help restore balance to the protection of copyright, and support the public domain.
