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In the US Constitution there is an important statement on the value of the Cultural Commons and the Public Domain. It is about patents and copyrights. Here is how it reads:
The Congress shall have power to promote the Progress of Science and the useful Arts by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.
This statement comes within a list of congressional powers, yet it is written differently from the rest of the list. The statement is actually giving Congress the power to promote the progress of science and the arts while limiting the exclusive rights of the authors or inventors. It was meant to be a way to grow and protect our public domain. The public domain is the common treasury of all our culture and its essential to progress in all human endeavors.
Originally copyrights were for 14 years with one 14 year extension. Now copyrights are the life of the author plus 70 years. For corporations copyrights last 95 years. And it could be extended again. This starves the public domain and does not "promote the progress of science and the useful arts."
Disney fought to extend copyrights to protect their ownership
of Mickey:
The
Mouse that Ate the Public Domain by Chris Sprigman
Copyright Term Extension Act - Wikipedia article about the act and its effects.
Creative Commons is an site where a person can protect their art and the public domain as well.
Copy Left has some other ideas on how to protect the public domain and the artist
The attempt to patent Basmati rice by RiceTec, has really open up the discussion of who owns traditionally cultivated strains of plants and the names associated with them. The spice tumeric and the neem tree are other examples of corporate attempts to grab a traditional plant from the commons.
India Fights U.S. Basmati Rice Patent by Anthony Browne [2000]
Basmati Case Study - If you want to read the official case.
And to put it all together:
Earth
Democracy - interview with Vandana Shiva in Yes magazine