At the end of the limited term of protection, creative works fall into the public domain for the widest possible dissemination. That is the same philosophy that underlies the 17-year term for patents. Public domain is an integral part of the creative process, and the courts have been consistent in recognizing this. The copyright term is limited so that the public will not be permanently deprived of the fruits of an artist's labors. Public domain means that creative works are more widely distributed, and the wide availability of ideas contributes to creativity, benefiting everyone.
Educational producers use public domain footage in their films to instruct and entertain.
Documentary filmmakers can afford to make films for specialized audiences because they can get public domain material at reasonable prices from sources such as the National Archives. The news programs on CNN, the broadcast networks and C-SPAN constantly use readily available public domain footage to provide historical insight into current issues. The proposal to extend to 95 years the current 75-year term for motion pictures would obviously have its most immediate effect on the decade of films copyrighted from 1918 to 1927. With only a handful of exceptions, these films can be seen only at archives and foreign film festivals. Turner Entertainment and Paramount have released a couple of their major titles, but virtually all the copyrighted survivors of this decade of film history remain on the shelf, unseen in the classroom, video store or on television or cable.