Eldred v. Ashcroft Oral Arguments

PMuse and others wrote in about the oral arguments held today in the Eldred v. Ashcroft case challenging the most recent 20-year retroactive extension of copyright terms. Google News will cover the mainstream news stories about it; transcripts of the arguments will eventually be posted; but as I write this the only first-hand reports appear to be LawMeme and the Associated Press. Reader McSpew adds a link to a piece by Steven Levy explaining the importance of Eldred v. Ashcroft and what's really at stake. Update: 10/09 19:12 GMT by T : khkramer links to his own summary of the arguments, writing "I have press credentials at the court, so I was able to take notes during the argument, and in the summary I tried to cover all of the major issues that the Justices asked about."

Comments

Oral?

[User 956]

Use of the word "Oral" is in violation of a recent Presidential order made on the request of John Ashcroft, shortly after he decided that the Supreme Court building was indecent.

Re:Plato & Aristotle

[Anonymous Coward]

Ya but without proper copyright protections what incentive does walt disney, plato or shakespear have to creat more works?

They may take our lives, but they...

[Prince_Ali]

...will never take Alice In Wonderland!

If only the courts knew how to code

[_underSCORE]

"if a limited time is extended for a limited time then it remains a limited time,"

Yeah, guys, and this loop terminates:

int limitedTime = 14;

for ( int i=0;i<limitedTime;i++) {

System.out.println("Copyright Protected");

limitedTime += 50;

}

fools.

Re:If only the courts knew how to code

[iplayfast]

[quote]Yeah, guys, and this loop terminates:

int limitedTime = 14;
for ( int i=0;i<limitedTime;i++) {
System.out.println("Copyright Protected");
limitedTime += 50;
}
[/quote]

Actually that loop does terminate. The limitedTime variable is an int, which will wrap to a negative number.

Good thing you aren't in congress or you'd be making bad code into laws! :)

Re:If only the courts knew how to code

[Dirtside]

Yeah, but it won't wrap for two billion years, which is probably longer than a term of copyright really needs to be. :)

Re:Not looking forward to the outcome

[poopsie]

When the Supreme Court finds the wording of the Constitution too vague, they look at the intent of the Founding Fathers, of whom Thomas Jefforson was quite clear on the issue - that one generation shall not have control over the next.

Um...Isn't looking to Jefferson for the definitive answer in effect having one generation control the next?

What to do if a law is just wrong?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you find that a company is doing something wrong you have the option of boycotting that company, and encouraging others to do the same. What can be done if congress has made a law which is morally wrong (IMHO).

How do you boycott congress?

Re:European Copyright

[Amazing Quantum Man]

Theoretically, won't AOL still have the copyright on Europe,

Damn, that's some trick! I'd love to hold the copyright on an entire continent!

All your Europeans are belong to AOL!

Re:I don't understand ...

[t]

You'er excluding the biggest one, santa. Can you imagine having to pay a license fee to dress up as santa and stuff presents under your xmas tree as your kids snuck a look?

Re:Not looking forward to the outcome

[foobar104]

Um...Isn't looking to Jefferson for the definitive answer in effect having one generation control the next?

When I find somebody presently living who's as wise as Jefferson was, I'll listen to him. Until then, the dead white male trumps.

It's kind of like...

[anthony_dipierro]

Did you ever think about why Elementary School takes 8 years but High School takes just 4? Obviously it all comes down to money.

Re:Not looking forward to the outcome

[cardshark2001]

You've sent statistics into a place where they just don't want to be. Here's an example that might clear things up: if a group of people goes to our legal system arguing that the United States is on the continent of Africa, they should see a 0% success rate. Anything other than a 0% success rate indicates that there's a problem with our system. You don't have to see a 100% or even a 50% rate in order to realize that something is wrong.

Well, IANAL, but there's no *law* against the US being on the continent of Africa, is there? IIRC, there is also nothing in the constitution about the US being located in Africa. You're gonna have to come up with a stronger argument than that!

Was Rehnquist asleep?

[ethereal]

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist seemed unsympathetic to those who want the law overturned.

"You want the right to copy people's works verbatim," he told Eldred's lawyer.

Why yes, sir, that's the whole point. That's what "public domain" means. Maybe if we can get past the knee-jerk incomprehension of "public domain", we can actually inject some sense into these proceedings. But probably not.

Frankly, I wonder if maybe he shouldn't have stuck with his other job as an impeachment court robes designer.