Re: [dvd-discuss] Eldred Amicus

["D. C. Sessions" <dcs(at)lumbercartel.com>]

On Thu, 2002-05-30 at 04:08, someone somewhere wrote:
> To begin, the current USSC doesn't seem to mind to step on congress's toes. 
> However congress also doesn't seem to mind to taking bribes.  I don't think 
> that congress will do anything if the CTEA gets struck down, unless the 
> court hints that the maximum limit is something like 10 years, on which the 
> mpaa will lobby congress to set a new limit to 20 years, because I don't 
> think that the court will be interested in a 10 year difference.  I do think 
> that if we get a new round of lawsuits, which pose the question if 50 years 
> or so is too long for software, the court will again take the case.  You 
> shouldn't forget that the USSC is politisized, however they do like to 
> pretend that they follow an ideology, in this case they can actually follow 
> the constitution without having any bad consequences (like letting loose 
> murderers because the police screwed up)

If the USSC strikes down the CTEA, they probably won't do
it by mandating a judicial replacement term, they'll just
whack the act(s) that extended the term.  Since (IIRC)
the fundamentals of copyright haven't been reviewed for
a century or more, they *could* whack back almost to the
28-year terms of the 19th century.

I don't think they will, though, for several reasons.
First, because of their strong inclination to defer
to Congress except when Congress goes /way/ over the
line.  Second, because the older (certainly pre-1976)
law had acquired a certain respect from time alone;
there is an argument that if it had been badly broken
it would have been challenged sooner, and the Court
doesn't like to mess with what ain't broken.

Not that they don't, mind.  /Brown/ /vs./ /Board/ /of/
/Education/ overturned a lot of long-settled law, too.
That is, of course, the jackpot that we're hoping for:
that the Court decides to open the fundamental issue
of copyright as social contract rather than windfall
harvest for those lucky enough to be sitting on a
goldmine.

-- 
| May I have the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, |
|  the strength to change the things I cannot accept, and the   |
|    cunning to hide the bodies of those who got in my way.     |
+------------- D. C. Sessions <dcs@lumbercartel.com> -----------+