In one of the (many) stories I’ve been keeping an eye on but haven’t babbled much about, the Supreme Court has been deciding whether Congress overrode the Constitution in 1998 by extending copyrights to stay in effect until 70 years after the death of the creator — 95 years if the copyright is owned by a corporation.
Copyright was originally intended to give an author/creator a specific, finite amount of time to reap profits and rewards from a created work before it was released into the public domain. Originally set to 14 years, the active term has been extended bit by bit over the years. The primary mover behind the extension of copyright terms in recent years, including this most recent extention, has been Disney. Every time Mickey Mouse was in danger of entering the public domain, Disney challenged the copyright laws, and got the terms extended, allowing them to retain control over Mickey.
(Irony alert: This from a company who counts among their many hits “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Treasure Island,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Snow White,” “Oliver and Company,” and many other works that they were able to create films from because the original works were in the public domain and not restricted by copyright any longer.)
Today’s Supreme Court ruling upheld this extention, however. Nothing that’s not already in the public domain is likely to get into the public domain anytime soon. Free-speech advocates are in mourning.
More information:
- Lawrence Lessig (the lawyer challenging the case): With deep sadness: “The Supreme Court has rejected our challenge to the Sonny Bono Law.”
- BoingBoing: Supreme Court rules against Eldred, Alexandria burns: “That’s the Supreme Court case that Larry Lessig argued to establish the principle that the continuous extension of copyright at the expense of the public domain is unconstitutional. This blog will be wearing a black arm-band for the next day in mourning for our shared cultural heritage, as the Library of Alexandria burns anew.”
- AP: Supreme Court Keeps Copyright Protections: “The 7-2 ruling, while not unexpected, was a blow to Internet publishers and others who wanted to make old books available online and use the likenesses of a Mickey Mouse cartoon and other old creations without paying high royalties. Hundreds of thousands of books, movies and songs were close to being released into the public domain when Congress extended the copyright by 20 years in 1998.”
- BoingBoing (in Feb 2002): What the copyright ruling really means: “The argument hinges on the constitutionality of the extensions to copyright. The framers originally established a ~~17-year~~ 14-year (thanks, Larry!) term of copyright, as part of the constitutional mandate to provide creators with “a limited monopoly” on their works. With the continual extension (11 times in the past 40 years) of copyright’s term, the monopoly is no longer “limited” in any real sense of the word (the present term of copyright is author’s life plus 70 years, or 95 years for works that belong to corporations).”
- Slashdot: Disney Wins, Eldred (and everybody else) loses: “Did you see Treasure Planet [imdb.com]? Yeah, me neither, I heard it was horrible. But either way, Treasure Island was a book written by Robert Louis Stevenson [kirjasto.sci.fi] in 1883. 114 years from now, if my great-great grandchild wanted to write The Lion King in space (the only discernable difference between Treasure Island and Treasure Planet), Disney would NEVER give them the right to make it, and would sue the pants off them if they tried.” (From the discussion thread.)
- Washington Post: Eldred vs. Ashcroft: A Primer: “Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Congress has “wide leeway” to interpret copyright law as set out by the U.S. Constitution. Justices John Paul Stevens and Stephen Breyer were the lone dissenters, saying that extending copyright terms repeatedly denies Americans “free access to the products of inventive and artistic genius.””