About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

7 J. World Intell. Prop. 5 (2004)

handle is hein.journals/jwip7 and id is 1 raw text is: Copyright Term Extension and the Scope of Congressional Copyright Power Eldred v. Ashcroft R. Anthony REESE* I. BACKGROUND In 1998, the U.S. Congress extended the term of both unexpired and future copyrights by 20 years. The U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld that extension against constitutional challenge in the case of Eldred v. Ashcroft.' Understanding Eldred requires familiarity with the evolution of the term of protection over the history of U.S. copyright law. In 1790, the U.S. Congress adopted the first U.S. Copyright Act, providing an initial term of protection of 14 years from publication and registration. If the author was alive at the end of the initial term she could renew the copyright for another 14 years, giving a total possible term of 28 years.2 For nearly 200 years, U.S. copyright law retained this basic structure, granting an initial term of protection, usually from the date of publication, with the possibility of a second, renewal term of protection once the initial term expired. Congress, however, twice expanded the total duration of such protection, first to 42 and then to 56 years.3 Both times it granted the longer term not only to works copyrighted after the new law took effect, but also to any work that had already been copyrighted, as long as the copyright had not yet expired.4 In the 1976 Copyright Act, effective on 1 January 1978, Congress altered the structure of the copyright term. Works created on or after 1 January 1978 were protected for a unitary copyright term. That term started with the work's creation and, in most cases, lasted for the life of the author plus an additional 50 years, as required by * B.A., Yale University; J.D., Stanford Law School; Thomas W. Gregory Professor, School of Law, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas, U.S.A. The author would like to thank Graeme Dinwoodie, Paul Goldstein, Doug Laycock, Christopher Leslie and Neil Netanel for comments on earlier drafts, and Beth Youngdale for research assistance. He may be contacted at: <(treese@mail.law.utexas.edu. I Eldred v. Ashcroft, 537 U.S. 186 (2003). 2 § 1, 1 Stat. 124 (1790). Protection was available both for works published after the law was passed and for works that had been previously published (but which, of course, could not have enjoyed any federal copyright protection before the 1790 Act was adopted). 3 In 1831, Congress extended the initial term from 14 to 28 years, for a total possible term of 42 years: § 1, 4 Stat. 436 (1831). It extended the renewal term in 1909, from 14 to 28 years, for a total possible term of 56 years: § 23, 35 Stat. 1080-81 (1909). 4 § 16, 4 Stat. 436, 439 (1831); § 24, 35 Stat. 1080-81 (1909).

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most