THESE DAYS, APPROPRIATION CAN BE RISKY BUSINESS

In the Boston Globe, Chris Gaither reports that contemporary artists are finding copyright and fair use issues increasingly difficult to negotiate. Last January, in Eldred v. Ashcroft, the Supreme Court ruled that Congress had acted within its rights when it extended copyright protections by twenty years, to seventy years after the author’s death and ninety-five years from publication by a corporation, delaying the arrival of images like Mickey Mouse in the public domain. And while the Internet has made it easier for artists to disseminate their works, the medium offers an easy way for corporations to sniff out possible infringements of copyrights and trademarks.