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Re: FW: Copyright Question



At 08:09 AM 11/13/00 -0500, Helen Bennett wrote:
Dear Sir.

My name is Helen Bennett.  <snip>
I am trying to find information on whether the
recent changes to the term of copyright in the USA
are unconstitutional.However I am
afraid I am rather naive about the constitution of
America regarging there constitution.  Please can
you help with trying to at least
allow me to understand what I should be looking
for.

Any help at this stage would be much appreciated.

Yours Anxiously
Helen Bennett.


Dear Ms. Bennett:

You have asked a question that will probably take our Supreme Court to
answer.  There is currently a case arguing the legality of copyright
extension, Eldred v. Reno, that I suspect will go to the Supreme
Court.  You can get a flavor for the competing arguments at the plaintiffs
web site, <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/eldredvreno>.  It has briefs and
also a discussion of the plaintiff's arguments.

The issues in the case are complex.  Part of it hinges on the issue of
whether "life plus 70 years" (the current term of copyright) meets the
Constitution's mandate for a limited term.  Part hinges on whether the law
might infringe on free speech.

As you read the documents, keep in mind that there is a fundamental
difference between American and European copyright law (sorry, I don't know
where the UK fits on the spectrum).  France and Germany seem to view
copyright has a natural right of authors to own and control the product of
their work.  In the US, copyright is not a property right but rather a
grant of limited monopoly from the government to the author.  We don't like
monopoly very much, but we do it to encourage authors to
write.  Nevertheless, the grant of monopoly is limited in several important
ways.  The question facing the court is whether the extension of the
copyright term goes beyond the limited purposes under which Congress is
allowed to make this monopoly grant - namely to promote learning and
technology ("science and the arts").

Yours,



---------------------------------------------------------------
Peter B. Hirtle
Co-Director                                pbh6@cornell.edu
Cornell Institute for Digital Collections     607/255-4033 (ph)
2B Kroch Library                                   607/255-9524 (fax)
Cornell University                <http://cidc.library.cornell.edu/>
Ithaca, NY  14853
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