Lessig 213-234

Wow, after this latest reading, I am dumbfounded by the lack of sense in the Court to see the unlimited power being granted to Congress in regard to the loop of copyright extensions that are granted with such regularity.
      To answer the question of can or should information be owned, I think that it should be owned initially, but only for a period of time before becoming public domain. This view is pretty much that a creator should be allowed a period of time to profit from their works by having the exclusive rights to their creation. I completely agree with Lessig's view of the matter of copyright. I believe he is spot on that by being able to continually extend copyrights' expiration date, it is greatly damaging to the general good of the public.
     Just as Lessig says, even if we ignore those intellectual properties like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and others that have enjoyed commercial success, we still are losing much through this never ending copyright extension. We are losing out on all those creations and works that weren't successes! This was something I personally had never even thought about before reading Lessig's work. Think about the all the books, movies, works of art, and other creations that have been made veen in the last hundred years and not enjoyed any kind of commercial success. What happened to them? Did they get stuck in a vault and preserved until a later time for their discovery? No, more likely than naught, they faded into memory as the physical objects themselves were either left to rot or decay into nothingness, never to be seen or heard from again. Who know what kinds of work has been lost forever. The only crime of these creations might have been that they were simply ahead of their time. These things could have just needed time to ripen before being able to gain acceptance for all we know. Even if they were not destined for commercial success in their own time or ours, there creation could house knowledge, which could be considered beneficial for all. Again, due to their inability to generate enough profit to justify their continued existence, we lose out.
    This seemed to be the theme from the reading, and it is one that I completely agree on. I hadn't really considered copyright regarding all those properties that weren't ever profitable enough to remain available to the general public. This seems to be an especially scary idea when you consider that the media used for storing these creations, such as film reels that were used in much of the twentieth century, aren't going to last forever, and once they disappear, they are gone for good.
    Clearly this is something that needs to be addressed in the future, as this ability for Congress to extend copyright terms at the behest of profitable copyright holders that are friendly to those in office (and their campaigns for reelection) is damaging to the public good.