US copyright law extension challenged

From: Alayne McGregor <alayne _-at-_ cfsc.ottawa.on.ca>
To: No DMCA in Canada <canada-dmca-opponents (at) flora.org>
Cc: Alayne McGregor <alayne -_at_- cfsc.ottawa.on.ca>
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 11:48:49 -0500 (EST)

From the BBC today:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1831000/1831585.stm

US copyright review shocks Hollywood

The US Supreme Court has shocked Hollywood by agreeing to review laws that
protect the copyright of Mickey Mouse and thousands of other works.

In a surprise decision, the court has said it will examine the legality of
the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Act - named after the late singer and
Congressman - which added 20 years to all existing copyrights.

US justices have agreed to hear a case brought by Eric Eldred, a
web publisher who has challenged the law as unconstitutional, claiming it
violates the First Amendment.

"We figure that Thomas Jefferson had it right when he insisted that the US
constitution, which provides for the existence of copyright amongst other
things, said it had to be for a limited time," Jonathan Zittraim, one of
Mr Eldred's lawyers, told the BBC's World Business Report.

"He (Jefferson) was worried people would keep extending the term and
that's exactly what is happening right now and we figure the constitution
has protected against."

US Solicitor General Theodore Olson, arguing for the government, supports
the law and in a brief said it does not conflict with any legal
precedents.

Mickey Mouse case

A reversal by the court of the law would free up thousands of copyrighted
works, including early films, by making them public domain.

"The magic of the public domain as a concept is that after a certain
period of time, certain kinds of works are for all time completely free to
use or misuse," said Mr Zittraim.

"(Disney's) worry is vastly overblown. They'll still have trademark over
Mickey Mouse, and that trademark lasts as long as Disney and the Magic
Kingdom do," said Mr Zittraim.

Overstepped

"Even if we win, people could not start opening competing amusement parks
with Mickey Mouse as the mascot, that's protected by trademark," he said.

"It does mean that works Disney created decades and decades ago, do become
free and ... they can't milk the old stuff for ever."

Mr Eldred, founder of Eldritch Press, publishes old works, like Henry
James novels, and makes them available to the world at large in HTML
format.

He claims that, in approving the Sonny Bono Act, Congress overstepped the
constitution's "plain and express intent to restrict the duration of
monopolies over speech".

--
Alayne McGregor
alayne@cfsc.ottawa.on.ca / alayne@ncf.ca

"Anyway every actor should go armed. You never know who might take against
a performance." -- Peter Whelan, _The School of Night_

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