Court to Review Copyright Law
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The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments this week over the constitutionality of a 1998 law that extended copyright protection by 20 years. Experts on both sides of the closely watched case say that its outcome could reshape the way cultural products are consumed and how their profits are divided. The court’s decision will determine whether a host of material — including early Mickey Mouse movies, Cole Porter songs and Robert Frost poems — will become available for free to the public or remain in the control of their copyright holders. Since the court agreed to hear the case in February, it has become a touchstone in an increasingly acrimonious debate over how to balance the rights of consumers with those of big media companies at a time when digital technology is threatening both. Under the 1998 law, material whose copyright formerly would have lapsed 50 years after its creator’s death became protected for an additional 20 years. Copyrights held by corporations, meanwhile, were extended to 95 years, from 75 previously. Over the long term, supporters of the law say, it will promote creative work by offering a bigger economic payoff to those who invest in it. The 1998 law also aligns the United States’ copyright terms with those of European countries. But detractors say the statute inhibits creativity by making it harder and more expensive for other people to obtain and build upon existing works. The 1998 law, these critics argue, mainly benefits powerful corporate copyright holders like the Walt Disney Company, whose intensive lobbying helped pass the legislation. The law’s challengers say that it disregards the public’s side of the balance that the Constitution sought to strike when it authorized Congress to issue copyrights “for limited times” to “promoted the progress of science and useful arts.” The initial Copyright Act, in 1790, set a maximum term of only 28 years. More : nytimes.com |