FC: Update on "Eldred" copyright extension lawsuit

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Tue May 21 2002 - 06:28:21 PDT

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    Politech archive on Eldred case:
    http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=eldred
    
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    Date: Mon, 20 May 2002 13:08:10 -0400
    From: Ernest Miller <ernest.millerat_private>
    To: declanat_private
    Subject: Briefs filed in Eldred v. Ashcroft
    
    The case concerns the constitutionality of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term 
    Extension Act (CTEA) which, following intense lobbying by media 
    conglomerates such as Disney and Time Warner, was enacted by Congress in 
    1998 and extended the term of all existing and future copyrights by twenty 
    years. Eric Eldred, who maintains a website that gives readers free access 
    to materials whose copyrights have expired, challenged the CTEA with the 
    assistance of the Openlaw project of the Berkman Center. Although Eldred 
    has lost in both the district and appellate courts, the case has been 
    accepted for review by the Supreme Court
    
    Read a short summary of one of the amicus briefs on LawMeme:
    http://research.yale.edu/lawmeme/
    
    Read all the briefs:
    http://eon.law.harvard.edu/openlaw/eldredvashcroft/legal.html
    
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    Date: Mon, 20 May 2002 16:59:33 -0700
    To: declanat_private
    From: Rick Prelinger <footageat_private>
    Subject: copyright extension
    
    Declan,
    
    Perhaps of interest...
    
    My company (Prelinger Archives, a for-profit moving image archives and 
    stock footage supplier) and two non-profits, the Internet Archive and 
    Project Gutenberg, recently collaborated on an amicus brief for Eldred v. 
    Ashcroft, the challenge to the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act due to be 
    argued before the Supreme Court in the autumn.  Basically we argue that a 
    strong and constantly self-renewing public domain is critical, now that 
    digital archives exist and make it feasible to deliver creative works to a 
    broad public at low cost.
    
    The brief was authored by a number of lawyers including staff at the 
    Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic at Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley.
    
    
    You can read or download the brief here:
    
    http://www.prelinger.com/eldredbrief.pdf
    
    Best,
    
    Rick
    -- 
    
    Rick Prelinger
    Prelinger Archives    http://www.prelinger.com
    P.O. Box 590622, San Francisco, Calif. 94159-0622
    +1 415 750-0445      Fax: +1 415 750-0607
    footageat_private
    
    Internet Moving Images Archive: http://www.moviearchive.org
    
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    Date: Mon, 20 May 2002 22:15:49 -0400
    To: declanat_private
    From: Jonathan Zittrain <zittrainat_private>
    Subject: eldred v. ashcroft briefs filed today
    
    Declan,
    
    The petitioners filed their opening briefs today in Eldred v. Ashcroft, the 
    challenge to the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act now pending before 
    the Supreme Court.  Numerous amici filed in support as well, including 
    multiple Nobel laureate economists, the Free Software Foundation, 
    constitutional and IP law profs, the American Library Association, the 
    Eagle Forum, the American Historical Association, distinguished historians, 
    and Intel Corp.  All in all an amazing group of people and institutions 
    spanning the ideological and sectoral spectrums.  Most of the briefs are 
    available at <http://eldred.cc/news/#brief>, with general information at 
    <http://eldred.cc> and <http://eldred.openlaw.org>.
    
    The next shoe to drop will be the government's reply sometime over the 
    summer, our reply brief, and then argument in the fall.  ...JZ
    
    
    
    
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