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Open Economies - Re: [OpenEconomies] US Supreme court agrees to hear case; gain for those promoting mo re open intellectual property laws

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Re: [OpenEconomies] US Supreme court agrees to hear case; gain for those promoting mo re open intellectual property laws

  • To: <openeconomies(at)cyber.law.harvard.edu>
  • Subject: Re: [OpenEconomies] US Supreme court agrees to hear case; gain for those promoting mo re open intellectual property laws
  • From: "Diane Cabell" <dcabell(at)law.harvard.edu>
  • Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 09:57:33 -0500
  • References: <8BEC443F1D4AD51181B300A0C9840C28117182@GEOMAIL>
Prof. Jonathan Zittrain, Berkman Center Director, is also counsel for
the Plaintiffs in Golan.  The legal arguments and submissions are based
on the earlier case, Eldred v. Reno, brought by the Berkman Center
itself, and using the Center's experimental "Open Law" program to allow
any interested person to help shape the arguments and briefs that went
into the case.  The entire case was an example of using an "open source"
approach to the practice of law.

Diane Cabell
Director, Clinical Program in Cyberlaw
Berkman Center for Internet & Society
Harvard Law School
http://www.cyber.law.harvard.edu



----- Original Message -----
From: <jmoore@geopartners.com>
To: <openeconomies@eon.law.harvard.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2002 9:26 AM
Subject: [OpenEconomies] US Supreme court agrees to hear case; gain for
those promoting mo re open intellectual property laws


Friends,

A pivotal gain was won yesterday for those who favor more open
intellectual
property laws that balance the needs of the community for open access,
with
those of property holders.  The US Supreme court has agreed to hear a
case
against the extension of the US copyright act, a case that was brought
by
Larry Lessig of Stanford, who is a close associate of those of us here
at
the Berkman Center, and well-known to many of you.  Here is a link and
excerpts from the NY Times piece this morning.

Regards, Jim

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/20/national/20RIGH.html



New York Times, February 20, 2002

Justices to Review Copyright Extension
By LINDA GREENHOUSE



ASHINGTON, Feb. 19 - The Supreme Court agreed today to decide whether
the
1998 law that extended the duration of existing copyrights by 20 years
was
constitutional. The court's action took the world of copyright holders
and
users by surprise and held the potential of producing the most important
copyright case in decades.

A challenge to the law, the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act,
which
many had regarded as a fanciful academic exercise, suddenly looked very
different once the Supreme Court declared its interest.

The issue is whether the Constitution's grant of authority to Congress
to
issue copyrights and patents "for limited times" to "promote the
progress of
science and useful arts" contains any real limitation on how that power
is
to be exercised. That question has implications for future cases as the
battle over the ownership of intellectual property focuses on the
Internet.

As a practical matter, the consequences could be enormous, both for
those
with stakes in copyrights that are running out and for the growing
community
of people - represented by the plaintiffs in this case - trying to use
the
Internet to expand the boundaries of the public domain. If the 20- year
extension was unconstitutional, early Mickey Mouse depictions would no
longer belong exclusively to the Walt Disney Company - although Disney
would
retain trademark protection for the character.


[As a matter of political process, this suit will now open up the
debate,
and increase the awareness of not only business and government but civil
society.  See the following excerpt from the NY Times story.]

The plaintiffs' Supreme Court appeal, filed by Prof. Lawrence Lessig of
Stanford Law School, garnered support from concerned groups including
the
American Library Association and other libraries. Now that the court has
agreed to hear the case, with arguments to be held in the fall, briefs
will
undoubtedly pour into the court from copyright holders as well as from
public domain advocates.



Dr. James F. Moore
Senior Fellow
Harvard Law School
Open Economies Project
Berkman Center for Internet and Society
Pound Hall 511
1563 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138

www.openeconomies.org
jmoore@cyber.law.harvard.edu

Chairman
GeoPartners Ventures
214 Lincoln Street
Allston, MA 02134

www.geopartners.com
jmoore@geopartners.com



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