ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 11, Number 44
May 24, 2002

In This Issue: 

Library associations and others file amicus brief in U.S. Supreme Court challenging constitutionality of Copyright Term Extension Act

Briefs were filed on May 20 in the U.S. Supreme Court in a case challenging the constitutionality of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act.  The appeal in Eldred v. Ashcroft asks the Court to overturn a decision by the federal appeals court for the D. C. Circuit, which in February 2001 rejected the argument that the Copyright Term Extension Act is unconstitutional.  

The Act, passed by Congress in 1998, extends the copyright term for an additional 20 years, so that a commercially-produced work is now governed by the provisions of copyright law for 95 years; for an individual's work the term is "life of the author" plus 70 years.  The federal government's brief, defending the law, will be filed in June.  The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments from the parties this fall.  

In support of the challengers' case, the five major national library associations and ten other groups submitted an amici curiae (friend of the court) brief asking the Supreme Court to rule that the extended term of protection for copyrighted works is unconstitutional.  
* The brief explains that the new lengthier copyright terms exceed the "limited times" of protection authorized by the Constitution's Copyright Clause to "promote the progress" of science and the useful arts.  In addition, the grant of extended terms for works already in existence when the law was passed - retrospective protection - does not meet the constitutional requirement of innovation in order for a work to be copyrighted. 
* The brief also argues that Congress did not adequately consider the substantial harms that flow from keeping works under copyright protection almost perpetually, thereby stifling the public domain.  

Joining the brief of the American Library Association, American Association of Law Libraries, Association of Research Libraries, Medical Library Association, and Special Libraries Association were the following organizations:  American Historical Association, Art Libraries Society of North America, Association for Recorded Sound Collections, Council on Library and Information Resources, International Association of Jazz Record Collectors, Midwest Archives Conference, Music Library Association, National Council on Public History, Society for American Music, and Society of American Archivists.  More about the case can be found on the Washington Office web site, http://www.ala.org/washoff/eldred.html.  The brief filed by Mr. Eldred and the other challengers of the law, and the other amicus briefs, can be found at http://eon.law.harvard.edu/openlaw/eldredvashcroft.



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