Free for a Fee

The Internet Archive has cheekily named this the “Sonny Bono Memorial Collection.” Bono was a musician turned member of Congress who died in a skiing accident months before the legislation passed. His widow, Mary Bono, won his seat in the House of representatives. During the debate over the Copyright Term Extension Act, Mary Bono said that “Sonny wanted the term of copyright protection to last forever. I am informed by staff that such a change would violate the Constitution.” So Congress did the next best thing, retroactively extending copyright terms by 20 years and naming the legislation after Sonny.

Congress passed the controversial law in 1998 under heavy lobbying from major content holders. The law is the reason Mickey Mouse, Batman, and Gone with the Wind haven’t fallen into the public domain—all had copyrights that were due to expire between 1999 and 2017—until Congress intervened.