High court weighs best copyright length
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Back when the US Constitution was still a work in progress, the framers of that document recognized the importance of encouraging innovative thought. So they gave Congress the power to enact a copyright law to protect the rights of authors long enough for them to profit from their creativity and effort. But by specifying in the Constitution itself that copyright protection must apply only for “limited times,” the Founding Fathers sought to strike a balance between private profit and the promotion of a vibrant public domain of ideas and creative works. Wednesday, in a potential landmark case, the US Supreme Court begins examining what the Framers must have meant by the term “limited times,” and whether Congress violated that constitutional mandate in 1998 when all existing copyrights were extended by 20 years. There is much more at stake in the case than simply how long Disney can retain exclusive use of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, or the number of years the heirs of Dr. Seuss can keep his famous Cat in the Hat off mass-produced T-shirts promoting dubious causes. In broad terms, what is at issue in Eldred v. Ashcroft is the extent to which the government may grant authors monopolistic power to control the future uses of their music, film, art, literature, and other creations. More : csmonitor.com |