Supreme Court Upholds Copyright Act

Copyrights are now protected for up to a century

[Mardi_Gras]

The Supreme Court voted 7-2 to uphold the Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) of 1998. The law (drafted by the late Sonny Bono) was passed as hundreds of old works were about to pass into the public domain.

Under the now-final law, works created by individuals are protected for 70 year's AFTER the creator's death. Works owned by corporations are protected for 95 years.

This is a huge victory for Disney - Mickey Mouse and other big Disney properties would have passed into the public domain if it had not been upheld.

[Fiver]

yay corporate conglomerates!

what I find funny is that on the article I read (likely cnn) they had no qualms with saying 'this decision was reached after heavy lobbying by vested partners'

thats not an actual quote, but it's close to it.

oh here it is
[dailynews.yahoo.com...]

and heres the quote
"Congress passed the copyright law after heavy lobbying from companies with lucrative copyrights. "

[mivox]

BOOO. That's all I have to say about that. BOOO.

[dingman]

Oh, joy. I feel soo much more motivated to produce creative works now, don't you? It really just wasn't worth the effort before, but now that I know my publisher's heirs will still be able to keep a stranglehold on the ideas long after I'm dead, it is.

If congress really wants to promote science and the arts, how about making copyright non-transferable, so that creators can't be required to sign over their rights to their employers or publishers? That would certainly make *me* more excited about producing creative works. Specifically, less afraid that my employer would sue the snot out of me for software I write at home on my own time.

[skibum]

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