Public-Domain

Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act: Disney Lobbying Creates 'Mickey Mouse Protection Act,' Extending Corporate Rent Extraction by 20 Years

| Importance: 9/10

President Bill Clinton signs the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA), extending copyright terms by 20 years—from life plus 50 years to life plus 70 years for individual authors, and from 75 to 95 years for corporate works. The legislation, derisively nicknamed the ‘Mickey Mouse …

Walt Disney Company Bill Clinton Time Warner Universal Viacom +2 more intellectual-property copyright regulatory-capture corporate-lobbying disney +2 more
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