Lessig is fond of saying copyright has been extended “eleven times in the past forty years”. This is true, but a much stronger case can be made: copyright has been extended for forty years over the past forty years. How many acts were passed doesn’t seem so important—the key point is that the term of copyright keeps going up. Here’s the proof:
Year: Length (Difference) Mickey’s Age (Difference)
1790: 28
1909: 42 (14)
1962: 56 (14) 35 (21)
1965: 59 (3) 38 (21)
1967: 61 (2) 40 (21)
1968: 62 (1) 41 (21)
1970: 64 (2) 43 (21)
1971: 65 (1) 44 (21)
1972: 67 (2) 45 (22)
1974: 69 (2) 47 (22)
1976: 85 (16) 49 (36)
1992: 90 (5) 65 (25)
1997: 95 (5) 70 (25)
I’ve also plotted the age of Mickey Mouse (the straight dark line). As you can see, copyright lengths go up as soon as Mickey gets a little too close to freedom, ensuring that Mickey’s eternally “20 years away” from entering the Public Domain.
Thanks to Zooko for suggesting I plot Mickey and Bill Coltire for his superb Hypertext Annotated Title 17 which made this possible.