A Win for the Eagles (in the Copyright Arena) Will Help The Public Knowledge Movement and Self-Publishing.

RE: Copyright Battle Comes Home
Eriq Gardner
IP Law & Business
October 08, 2009
http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202434372952#
To quote Eriq: “The looming problem is the so-called termination rights Congress gave to creators of copyrighted material when it amended the U.S. copyright law in 1976. The rights — which allow a copyright grant to be terminated after 35 years — have bedeviled the film and publishing industries lately in cases involving the Superman franchise, John Steinbeck novels and Captain America comic books.”
While Superman and Steinbeck are known the world over, their legal struggles over copyright are not. As such, any victories Superman might have in court will have only a small impact on the global publishing industry. However, the Eagles are everywhere. If the globally famous music group the Eagles win the right to take back copyright from the current record label owners, and then manage their Intellectual Property as they see fit, the world will notice, wake up, and ask itself “can I regain the right to manage my own material, too?”
In 2013, the Eagles will certainly roll out an ubercool online e-commerce site to sell their music, a site that fans and businessmen alike will use, and seek to imitate. Anyone who has created intellectual property (like authors and universities) will wonder “what if we do the same thing…”
Also, the notoriety of the Eagles newly-gained control will be a lesson to all future musicians and authors who want to do things right now, and not wait the mandated 35 years for the opportunity to personally manage their products and the profits from sales thereof.
I expect we will be hearing a lot of “Hotel California” playing at conferences over the next couple years. And Copyright Termination is going to be a hot new buzzword.

Source article: http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202434372952#