[12657] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Copyright Extension
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Clinton Jones)
Wed Jan 13 20:04:13 1999
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 17:54:14 -0500
From: Clinton Jones <clinton@ttalk.com>
To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Reply-To: Clinton Jones <clinton@ttalk.com>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
How Long Is Too Long? Recent Congressional Copyright Giveaway Claimed
Unconstitutional
January 12, 1999 - Cambridge, MA - Lawrence Lessig, the Berkman
Professor
of Law at Harvard Law School, announced today the filing of a lawsuit on
behalf of Eldritch Press, a non-profit organization that posts literary
works in the public domain onto the Internet. The suit challenges
Congress's recent retroactive extension of the term of copyright by another
twenty years. Professor Lessig is joined as counsel by Professor Charles
Nesson and Jonathan Zittrain of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society
at Harvard Law School, and Geoffrey Stewart of Hale and Dorr.
In 1790, Congress provided for up to twenty-eight years for a work's
copyright--after which the work would enter the public domain, freely
copyable and usable by anyone. Since then, Congress has enacted a series
of extensions, including the Copyright Act of 1976, which provided for
copyright terms of up to seventy-five years--retroactively extending
copyright for works written long ago and otherwise about to enter the
public domain.
Last year, Congress once again retroactively extended copyright terms
through the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 (CTEA). A book
published in 1923 under the old law would have come into the public domain
on January 1, 1999, but under the new statute the copyright prevents the
work from entering the public domain until January 1, 2019.
"You get the feeling that works created on or after 1923 seem
destined
never to enter the public domain; Congress arbitrarily extends the
copyright monopoly on them every twenty years, by another twenty years,
like clockwork," said Zittrain. "It's particularly troublesome when the
speed and access of the Internet promises a substantial audience for the
works that remain locked up."
Fortunately, the Constitution offers clear guidance on the subject.
In
enumerating Congress's powers in Article I, section 8, it clearly says that
Congress may "... promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by
securing for LIMITED TIMES to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to
their respective Writings and Discoveries" (emphasis added).
"The Constitution empowers Congress to propose a bargain whereby
authors
have a limited time to benefit exclusively from their work, after which the
public may freely benefit from the intellectual property they create," said
Nesson. "This allows for an economic incentive to publish while also
respecting the public's ultimate right to share and share alike with
speech. That's why the Constitution provides that Congress's judgment be
carefully scrutinized when it seems intent on making a copyright go on
indefinitely--or when it allows for the odd bargain of, retroactively, more
monopoly time for authors who are long dead, or have long since transferred
their rights in their work to someone else, having been fully willing to
work with the shorter copyright time limit at the time they wrote."
Eric Eldred founded the Eldritch Press in late 1995 as a means of
demonstrating that computers could be used to present books on th e Internet
in new ways, and in ways that improved upon the capabilities of print
books. Initially, the Eldritch Press began with works of American
literature, by authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Oliver Wendell Holmes
(Sr.), and Henry James. Because some of the works Eldritch Press posts are
not included in library collections or are long out of print, they are not
obtainable by the public in any other way. The Eldritch Press now posts
new works the moment they enter the public domain.
The Eldritch Press site receives as many as 4,000 visitors per day
and has
been accessed from virtually all countries in the world. It has been
recognized as one of the 20 best humanities sites on the Web from
edSITEment (National Endowment for the Humanities).
More information about the case, and an opportunity to join a
coalition in
support of it, may be found at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/eldredvreno.
For Additional Contact: Information:
Emily Lenzner
Berkman Center for Internet & Society
617/495-7547
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu
Eric Eldred
The Eldritch Press
http://eldred.ne.mediaone.net
###
OverSeas Publications
http://www.osp.co.za
