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egistrations. Any real solution to the problem of formalities must address
the real problem of governments standing at the core of any system
of formalities. In this book, I offer such a solution. That solution
essentially remakes the Copyright Office. For now, assume it was
Amazon that ran the registration system. Assume it was one-click registration.
The Eldred Act would propose a simple, one-click registration
fifty years after a work was published. Based upon historical data,
that system would move up to 98 percent of commercial work, commercial
work that no longer had a commercial life, into the public domain
within fifty years. What do you think?
When Steve Forbes endorsed the idea, some in Washington began
to pay attention. Many people contacted me pointing to representatives
who might be willing to introduce the Eldred Act. And I had a few
who directly suggested that they might be willing to take the first step.
One representative, Zoe Lofgren of California, went so far as to get
the bill drafted. The draft solved any problem with international law. It
imposed the simplest requirement upon copyright owners possible. In
May 2003, it looked as if the bill would be introduced. On May 16, I
posted on the Eldred Act blog, “we are close.” There was a general reaction
in the blog community that something good might happen here.
But at this stage, the lobbyists began to intervene. Jack Valenti and
the MPAA general counsel came to the congresswoman’s office to
give the view of the MPAA. Aided by his lawyer, as Valenti told me,
Valenti informed the congresswoman that the MPAA would oppose
the Eldred Act.The reasons are embarrassingly thin. More importantly,
their thinness shows something clear about what this debate is really
about.
The MPAA argued first that Congress had “firmly rejected the central
concept in the proposed bill”—that copyrights be renewed. That
was true, but irrelevant, as Congress’s “firm rejection” had occurred
long before the Internet made subsequent uses much more likely. Sec-
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