A copyright battle is opening over a poem, Footprints in the Sand, a piece of inspirational saccharine which has been widely believed until now to be in the public domain. According to Washington Post Staff Writer, Hank Stuever, the poem has at least six people claiming authorship link here. The copyright is pretty questionable, since it has been published for years under the authorship of anonymous. Copyright was not claimed until 1986 but there is money, apparently quite a bit, in licensing the poem for imprint on cups and shirts and such, so the fight will now commence and more claimants may emerge.

The lawyers are about to have a feast once again over what is the result of really vague and therefore bad law. But with so many vested interests in the present text, it is unlikely to be changed anytime soon so we all lose.