After writing my last post, I went to Lessig's website, where you can download his latest book, Free Culture. I'm enjoying it immensely, and I just came across something I remembered from first year: The earliest copyright in the western legal tradition is the Statute of Anne, passed by the English parliament in 1710. The Statute gave creators a 14-year copyright, with the possibility of a one-time 7 year renewal. Total maximum copyright time: 21 years.
In case you're curious, the current maximum US copyright time: 70 years after the creator's death. So the only stuff in the public domain today is from people who died in 1935.
Ah, the stuff we learn in Communications...
The mainland uses Mandarin, at least in official documents.
ReplyDeleteAs for translation fidelity, I wouldn't hazard a definite answer, but the sound of the english translation makes me think the CPC is being very deliberate in their choice of wording.
I'll see if I can email a prof of mine and get his opinion.