Down Mexico Way

Mexico may soon extend its copyright terms. Under the proposed legislation, copyrights south of the Rio Grande will last even longer than Hollywood's, and the government will, in a new twist, be able to charge royalties for works after they enter the public domain.

Lawrence Lessig comments: "Usually governments nationalize first, and then (and as a result) kill the industry nationalized. Mexico plans to innovate on this pattern: kill the public domain first, and then nationalize after."