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Cert Granted: The Supreme Court will hear Eldred v. Ashcroft in its fall term.
For background on the case, please visit the Openlaw / Eldred v. Ashcroft homepage. You may also want to visit lead plaintiff Eric Eldred's Eldritch Press and an article from the Boston Globe Magazine.
Supreme
Court Docket
Supreme Court Opening Briefs Filed May 20, 2002:
- Brief for
Petitioners: Eric Eldred, Eldritch Press, Higginson Book
Company, Jill A. Crandall, Tri-Horn International, Luck's Music
Library, Inc., Edwin F. Kalmus & Co., Inc., American Film Heritage
Association, Moviecraft, Inc., and Dover Publications, Inc.
By Lawrence Lessig, Kathleen M. Sullivan, Alan B. Morrison, Edward Lee, Charles Nesson, Jonathan L. Zittrain, William W. Fisher, Charles Fried, Geoffrey Stewart, Donald Ayer, Robert Ducatman, and Daniel Bromberg
- We have the support of numerous amici ("friends of the court"):
- College Art Association, Visual Resources Association, National Humanities Alliance, Consortium of College and University Media Centers and National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage, Jeffrey P. Cunard, Bruce P. Keller, Christopher J. Robinson, Rebecca Tushnet
- 5 Constitutional Law Professors, Jack M. Balkin, Yochai Benkler, Burt Neuborne, Robert Post, Jed Rubenfeld
- Eagle Forum Education & Legal Defense Fund and Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Phyllis Schlafly, Karen Tripp
- 17 Economists, Roy T. Englert, Jr.
George A. Akerlof, Kenneth J. Arrow, Timothy F. Bresnahan, James M. Buchanan, Ronald H. Coase, Linda R. Cohen, Milton Friedman, Jerry R. Green, Robert W. Hahn, Thomas W. Hazlett, C. Scott Hemphill, Robert E. Litan, Roger G. Noll, Richard Schmalensee, Steven Shavell, Hal R. Varian, and Richard J. Zeckhauser
- Free Software Foundation, Eben Moglen
- Hal Roach Studios and Michael Agee, H. Jefferson Powell, David Lange
- Intel Corporation (in partial support), James M. Burger, David J. Wittenstein, Mary Teresa A. Dowd, Jeffrey T. Lawrence
- 53 Intellectual Property
Law Professors , Jessica Litman, Jon Weinberg and Dennis Karjala
Jessica Litman, Dennis S. Karjala, Keith Aoki, Stephen R. Barnett, Margreth Barrett, Ann Bartow, Tom W. Bell, Paul Schiff Berman, Dan L. Burk, Margaret Chon, Richard Chused, Julie E. Cohen , Kenneth D. Crews, Robert Denicola, F. Jay Dougherty, Rochelle C. Dreyfuss, Christine Haight Farley, Eric M. Freedman, Laura N. Gasaway, Shubha Ghosh, Llewellyn Joseph Gibbons, Paul J. Heald, Steven D. Jamar, John Kidwell, Robert A. Kreiss, Lew Kurlantzick, Marshall A Leaffer, Joseph P. Liu, Lydia Pallas Loren, Michael J. Madison, Peter W. Martin, Willajeanne McLean, Charles R. McManis, Robert P. Merges, Michael J. Meurer, Neil Weinstock Netanel, Francis M. Nevins, Dawn C. Nunziato, Robert L. Oakley, Ruth Gana Okediji, Maureen A. O'Rourke, David G. Post, Margaret Jane Radin, R. Anthony Reese, John Rothchild, Pamela Samuelson, David J. Seipp, David E. Shipley, David E. Sorkin, J. Russell VerSteeg, Eugene Volokh, Sarah K. Wiant, Diane L. Zimmerman
- Internet Archive, Prelinger Archives, and Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, Deirdre K. Mulligan, Jason M. Schultz, Mark Lemley, Jennifer M. Urban, Steven M. Harris
- 15
Library Associations, Arnold P. Lutzker, Carl H. Settlemeyer III
American Association of Law Libraries, American Historical Association, American Library Association, Art Libraries Society of North America, Association for Recorded Sound Collections, Association of Research Libraries, Council on Library and Information Resources, International Association of Jazz Record Collectors, Medical Library Association, Midwest Archives Conference, Music Library Association, National Council on Public History, Society for American Music, Society of American Archivists, and Special Libraries Association
- National Writers Union et al., Peter Jaszi
National Writers Union, Charles Baxter, Wendell Berry, Guy Davenport, William Gass, Patricia Hampl, Eva Hoffman, Ursula K. Leguin, Barry Lopez, Peter Matthiessen, Jack Miles, David Foster Wallace, Lawrence Golan, Ronald Hall, Richard Kapp, John Mcdonough, The United States Public Policy Committee for the Association of Computing Machinery, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, The Apache Software Foundation, The Domain Name Rights Coalition, The Center for The Public Domain, Public Knowledge, The Digital Future Coalition, The Public Domain Research Corporation, The Center for Book Culture, Litnet, The Computer and Communications Industry Association, and The Consumer Electronics Association
- Tyler T. Ochoa, Mark Rose, Edward C. Walterscheid, Organization of American Historians, H-Net, Tyler T. Ochoa
- Malla Pollack
- Progressive Intellectual Property Law
Association and Union for the Public Domain (in partial support), Michael H. Davis
- Petitioners consent to the filing of all amicus briefs.
- The role of an amicus brief
Supreme Court Briefs in Opposition:
- Government Response Brief, filed August 5, 2002
- Government amici:
- American Intellectual Property Law Association, (Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, PC) (Olsen & Bear, LLP) (Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP)
- ASCAP, BMI, et al., Paul Weiss, Morrison & Foerster
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, Association of Independent Music Publishers, Broadcast Music, Inc., Church Music Publishers Association, Music Publishers' Association of the United States, and National Music Publishers' Association, Inc.
- Amsong, Inc., Shukat Arrow Hafer & Weber, LLP
- AOL Time Warner, Inc., Kirkland & Ellis
- Association of American Publishers et al., Charles S. Sims, Proskauer Rose LLP
Association of American Publishers, Amberson Holdings LLC, Richard Avedon, The George Balanchine Trust, Peter Bartok, Boosey Hawkes, Inc., The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc., European-American Music Corp., The George Gershwin Family Trust, The Leonore S. Gershwin Trust for the Benefit of the IRA and Leonore S. Gershwin Philanthropic Fund, The Leonore S. Gershwin Trust for the Benefit of the Library of Congress, The Keith Harin Foundation, The Frederick Loewe Foundation, Inc., David Mamet, Glen Roven, and the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music
- Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. et al., Meyer & Klipper,
PLLC
The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.; CCH Incorporated; Houghton-Mifflin Company, Inc.; The McGraw-Hill Companies; Reed Elsevier, Inc.; The Software & Information Industry Association
- Symphonic and Concert Composers, Fred Koenigsberg, White & Case
Jack Beeson, Chen Yi, John Corigliano, John Duffy, Harold Farberman, Philip Glass, Adolphus Hailstork, Jennifer Higdon, Libby Larsen, Tania Leon, Stephen Paulus, George Rochberg, Ned Rorem, Augusta Read Thomas, Melinda Wagner and Richard Wernick
- Directors Guild of America et al., Bredhoff & Kaiser PLLC
Directors Guild of America, American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Screen Actors Guild, Inc., Writers Guild of America, East, and Writers Guild of America, West, Inc.
- Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P. et al., Gray Cary Ware &
Freidenrich LLP
Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P., Allene White, Madeleine Bemelmans, and Barbara Bemelmans A.K.A. Barbara Bemelmans Marciano
- Senator Orrin G. Hatch
- Intellectual Property Owners Association, Arnold & Porter
- International Coalition for Copyright Protection, Eric Lieberman, Gregory Silbert
- Motion Picture Association of America, Simon Barsky, Seth Waxman
- The Nashville Songwriters Association International, Sukin Rush Law Group
- New York Intellectual Property Law Association, Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto
- Recording Artists Coalition, Berliner, Corcoran & Rowe, LLP
- Recording Industry Association of America, Kenneth Starr, Jenner & Block, LLC
- New York Law School Professor Edward Samuels (local copy)
- House Judiciary Committee Members, O'Melveny & Myers
Representatives F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., John Conyers, Jr., Howerd Coble, and Howard L. Berman
- Songwriters Guild of America, Floyd Abrams, Cahill Gordon & Reindel
Reply Brief for the Petitioners, September 4, 2002
Oral Argument before the United States Supreme Court is scheduled for October 9, 2002.
Supreme Court Grants Certiorari, February 19, 2002
The Supreme Court has announced it will hear our challenge to the Copyright Term Extension Act.
Petition for Certiorari:
- Plaintiffs File Petition for Certiorari to Supreme Court, October 11, 2001 (PDF) - Eric Eldred and fellow plaintiffs asked the Supreme Court to hear arguments in the case and to rule that the First Amendment requires greater constitutional scrutiny of copyright law.
- Government brief opposing Supreme Court review (PDF) (HTML)
- Petitioners' Reply Brief, December 20, 2001 (PDF)
Numerous amici support our case:
- Amicus brief of 21 copyrigyht law professors in support of Eldred's petition for certiorari (PDF) (HTML)
- Amicus brief of constitutional law professors in support of Eldred's petition for certiorari (PDF) (HTML)
- Amicus brief of library associations in support of Eldred's petition for certiorari (PDF) (HTML)
- Amicus brief of Eagle Forum and Cato Institute in support of Eldred's petition for certiorari (PDF) (HTML)
- Amicus brief of Internet Archive in support of Eldred's petition for certiorari (PDF) (HTML)
- D.C. Circuit Denies En Banc Rehearing, July 13, 2001
- Judges Sentelle and Tatel dissented.
- Plaintiffs File Petition for Rehearing en Banc, April 2, 2001
-
DC Circuit Decision - On February 16, 2001, the DC Circuit issued a 2-1 decision, rejecting our claims in Eldred v. Reno. The majority decision is available in full here, or you may prefer this summary. A spirited dissent from Judge Sentelle agrees with our contention that the CTEA is unconstitutional.
-
Appellants' Opening Brief - On May 22, 2000, Copyright's Commons joined Eric Eldred in filing this brief to appeal the District Court's decision against us.
-
Government Response Brief - In July, the government responded by filing this brief with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
-
Appellants' Final Brief - We then filed a final corrected brief with the Court of Appeals on August 7, 2000.
Amicus Briefs
-
On June 6, the Eagle Forum filed this amicus brief in support of Eric Eldred and Copyright's Commons.
- On July 21, the Sherwood Anderson Foundation, Motion Picture Association of America, Recording Industry of America and Association of American Publishers (among others) filed this amicus brief in support of the government.
District Court Opinion:
On October 28, 1999, Judge June Green granted summary judgment to the government in a brief opinion dismissing the plaintiffs' arguments.
1) that the Copyright Term Extension Act does not violate the First Amendment because there is no First Amendment right to use the copyrighted works of others;
2) that the retrospective extension of the Act is within Congress's power under the Copyright Clause of the Constitution because the "limited times" period is subject to the discretion of Congress and an author may agree in advance to transfer any future benefit Congress might confer; and
3) that the Act does not violate the public trust doctrine because that doctrine applies only to navigable waters.
Complaint:
-
Second Amended Complaint - Plaintiffs file second amended complaint. Filed 6/24/99
-
First Amended Complaint - Plaintiffs file amended complaint to reflect the addition of additional parties to the suit (including Copyright's Commons). Filed 5/10/99
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Complaint - Plaintiffs file complaint in D.C. District Court against Janet Reno in her official capacity, challenging the constitutionality of the Copyright Term Extension Act. Filed 1/11/99
Government's
Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings - The government files a motion for judgment
on the pleadings. With this motion, the government asks the court to decide
the case without further arguments from either side. Filed 6/25/99
Amicus Brief - A group of amici file a brief in support of the government's position. Filed 6/28/99 [PDF]
Plaintiff's Response to the Gov’ts Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings and
Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment- Plaintiffs file a response to the government's motion of for judgment on the pleadings and cross-motion for summary judgment. With this motion, the plaintiffs argue that the law requires a judgment in their favor. Filed 7/23/99 [PDF]
Affidavit of Hal R. Varian [PDF]
Extraordinary thanks
Government’s Response to Plaintiff’s Summary Judgment and Reply on its
Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings - The government files a response to the plaintiff's motion for summary judmgent and a reply on its motion for judgment on the pleadings. Filed 8/23/99 [PDF]
Amicus Brief - Another amicus brief is filed in support of the government's position. Filed 8/23/99 [PDF]
Plaintiffs’ Reply - Plaintiffs reply in support of their motion for judgment on the pleadings or in the alternative for summary judgment. Filed 9/10/99 [PDF]