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The Eldred v. Ashcroft arguments
Eldred v. Ashcroft, the copyright case described on this page two weeks ago, was argued before
the U.S. Supreme Court on October 9. This case remains interesting
because it asks a fundamental question: are there constitutional limits on
the monopoly rights that the Congress can grant to copyright holders? A
20-year extension on copyrights is not, itself, that important to the free
software community - by the time 70-year-old software might pass into the
public domain, most users are likely to have upgraded to something else,
libc5 die-hards excepted. But the question of limits on Congressional
power bears directly on issues like the DMCA, the CBDTPA, and others. This
case matters.
We're going to have to wait some months to find out how it went, though. The Supreme Court doesn't rush into these things. Until then, the definitive commentary on how the arguments went has to be Lawrence Lessig's weblog:
The Court clearly got it. Though the other side had written
literally 300 pages trying to show all the good CTEA did (and
pronounce it like it is a disease -- sateeeya), the Court hadn't
bought any of it. Congress was not acting to promote progress, it
was acting to reward "court favorites." The only question the Court
was struggling with is whether it has the power to do anything
about it.
Go read the whole thing, it's worth it. Lawrence Lessig and all those who have worked on the Eldred case over the last few years deserve our thanks for taking on this fight. Let's hope they get some sleep soon. (Log in to post comments)
The Eldred v. Ashcroft arguments Posted Oct 17, 2002 19:53 UTC (Thu) by stonedown (guest, #2987) [Link] Thanks for the link. This is why I subscribe to LWN!!! :-)
The Eldred v. Ashcroft arguments Posted Oct 18, 2002 15:04 UTC (Fri) by gregwilkins (subscriber, #515) [Link] Ha! Subscriber only content!!!!!!! Love it!!!!So when all you cheap scapes get here next week, think about spending a few dollars to support LWN and get a subscription.
The Eldred v. Ashcroft arguments Posted Oct 25, 2002 13:13 UTC (Fri) by mdekkers (guest, #85) [Link] Cheapskate? Who the hell are you judging? I would love to get an LWN account, but until it becomes less costly for Europeans to get an account, it is simply going to be too expensive with the added charges to my card. Also, there are many students or simply people out of job who must choose between buying new shoes or something and an LWN account. Moron.
The Eldred v. Ashcroft arguments Posted Oct 26, 2002 9:06 UTC (Sat) by sam (guest, #1329) [Link] If I were employed and not a student again, I would gladly subscribe to LWN. Until then, I have to choose between food on my table or supporting LWN. :-(
The Eldred v. Ashcroft arguments Posted Oct 27, 2002 21:55 UTC (Sun) by k8la (guest, #7129) [Link] Talk about talking out of your a.....I would love to buy a subscription. But... I am totally disabled with a disease that is slowly but surely shutting The end result is that I'm able to only work 2 days a week, at minimum Thankfully I've still got a good life. I don't go around looking down So go f**k yourself!!!
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