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...the copyright laws, they just seem a little too broad and vague, maybe because lawyers have been involved.



It was as much Mark Twain and Sonny Bono as anybody. I doubt many historians ever expected those two to end up in the same sentence.

Mark Twain agitated heavily and successfully in the early 20th century to get copyrights extended a fair amount. They were very short and weak previously. It was not solely his doing , but he was an influential spokesman for longer, broader rights.

Later, as a congressman (and, umm, copyright holder) Sonny got law passed extending it much further and establishing this astonishingly long copyright period we have today in the US.

Read about that "Mickey Mouse Protection Act" here in the Wikipiki