One more response to this point… Metropolis was one of the most expensive movies ever made at the time (5,000,000 German marks in 1926). The effects were just as groundbreaking as those in The Matrix:
And yet, Metropolis was created without the expectation of a century’s worth of profit, or eternal control over the use of the film. It fell into the public domain and has been re-released several times (of varying quality), with the definitive version due to arrive in theaters and on DVD this year.
Make it life plus 20 or 21. For the sake of young law students everywhere, I dont’ want some guy transferring his intellectual property rights to become a “rule against perpetuities” issue
