Supreme Court to Review
Copyright Extension Act
The Supreme Court agreed February 19 to review the Copyright Term Extension Act to determine the constitutionality of the 1998 law that lengthened the life-plus-50-year copyright term by 20 years.
The legislation was strongly supported by the motion picture and recording industries, who faced the expiration of copyrights on many of their most valuable properties. They also argued that it would match the copyright term granted by the European Union.
However, it was challenged by small publishers and other businesses that specialize in formerly copyrighted material. The New York Times reported February 20 that the plaintiffs’ lead attorney, Lawrence Lessig, argued that the 20-year extension blocks “an extraordinary range of creative invention” from entering the public domain “just at the time that the Internet is enabling a much broader range of individuals to draw upon and develop this creative work.”
Library and consumer groups, including the American Library Association, had opposed the legislation, although the measure included a limited exception for libraries, archives, and nonprofit educational institutions. The Times reported that a brief filed by the library groups accused Congress of “transforming a limited monopoly into a virtually limitless one.”
Posted February 25, 2002.
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