Something has to be done

Now they make you feel like a criminal just trying to get pictures printed. Something has got to be done regarding the fear of copyright prosecution.

Here's another example of copyright fear killing creativity and invention.

And here's a tragic example of history and its lessons being lost because of copyright issues. From the site:

Eyes on the Prize is an award-winning documentary series that many consider a foundation of our collective memory of the Civil Rights Movement. It's the most vidid portrayal of the civil rights movement and for millions of people, it's the foundation for understanding what happened. Makers of Eyes on the Prize brought together extensive historical footage from the period and featured ordinary people who helped change the course of history for the better. No other book or movie has comprehensively brought together this much footage or has become a more common reference on the civil rights movement.

So why has Eyes on the Prize been unavailable for the past 10 years? Copyright restrictions. For example, the film includes footage of a group of people singing "Happy Birthday" to Martin Luther King. Incredibly, "Happy Birthday" is under copyright and some rights holders believe that they should be given licensing fees if the song appears in any film, even a documentary. (Yes that's correct, "Happy Birthday" is restricted under copyright--so if you've ever sung it in a restaurant or a park, you could literally be breaking the law.)

But "Happy Birthday" is just the beginning. Eyes on the Prize is made up of news footage, photographs, songs and lyrics from the Civil Rights Movement that are tangled up in a web of licensing restrictions. Many of these licenses had expired by 1995 and the film's production company, Blackside, could not afford the exorbitant costs of renewing them. "Eyes on the Prize" has been unavailable to the public ever since.