START SHOPPING AROUND THOSE "STEAMBOAT WILLIE" FAN FICTIONS: Today the Supreme Court hears the Lawrence Lessig-brought public domain case that seeks to overturn the "Mickey Mouse Extension Act"--among other congressional copyright extensions, I guess, this article mentions 11 separate incidents that Lessig doesn't like. His argument is that the founders intended copyright protection limited enough to let individuals get rich off their creations, but not so those creations could be milked in perpetuity by people who weren't those individuals. How can you not go with Lessig on this? Creative works need to be returned to the cultural soil of these United States to be remade and revitalized by the starving artists of the present. I--me, myself--need to sell a million copies of my Steamboat Willie novel where Mickey turns into a vampire and--in a fit of anger--devours his tormentor Pegleg Pete and is burdend with guilt for the rest of his days, poisoning his relationship with Minnie. And Disney is shackling me. Go, Lessig, go!

This Comicon thread hipped me to this story, by the way, and has some interesting analysis.