forever less one day (copyright term 1998 attrib Jack Valenti) live forever less a day (1917)

[Garson O'Toole]

Copyright is back in the news because of the recently revised
class-action agreement with Google. The CNET website has an article
defending Google Books by Larry Downes, a nonresident fellow at the
Stanford Law School Center for Internet & Society. Downes mentions a
phrase that I think is famous to individuals fighting against
copyright term extension.

Citation: "Two cheers for Google Books" by Larry Downes, CNET News,
November 16, 2009.

Acknowledging that the U.S. Constitution requires copyright to be for
"limited times," the late Congressman Sonny Bono once proposed
changing the term to forever minus a day.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10398838-93.html

I do not think that Sono Bono actually made such a proposal, but the
mistake, if it is a mistake, is understandable. There are several
variants of the expression, e.g., "forever minus a day", "forever less
one day", "forever minus one day", "forever less a day",  and
"eternity minus a day".

Mary Bono in the Congressional Record of 1998 attributes the quest for
the longest possible non-eternal copyright term to the movie industry
lobbyist Jack Valenti.

Citation: 7 Oct 1998 Congressional Record, Vol. 144, page H9952.

Actually, Sonny wanted the term of copyright protection to last
forever. I am informed by staff that such a change would violate the
Constitution. I invite all of you to work with me to strengthen our
copyright laws in all of the ways available to us. As you know, there
is also Jack Valenti's proposal for term to last forever less one day.

Did someone propose this public-domain eviscerating term length before
Valenti? I do not know. The clever, though mathematically incoherent,
phrase has a long history. It was used in a curious poem in 1917.

Citation: The Rotarian, Vol. 10. No. 1, Rotary International, January 1917.

Greetings -
May you all live forever
May I live forever
                less a day
For I would not wish to live
When all my friends
                had passed away

http://books.google.com/books?id=UlgEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22forever+less%22#v=snippet&q=%22forever%20less%22&f=false

Garson

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