1. Eldred v. Ashcroft

2. Plaintiff:
Eric Eldred

3. Defendant
John Ashcroft

4. Eldred was joined by many others
Dover Publications
Free Software Foundation
American Association of Law Libraries
Bureau of National Affairs
College Are Association

5. Ashcroft was joined by many others
Motion Picture Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
ASCAP
Broadcast Music Incorporated

6. Eldred was an online publisher that sued the government because he opposed the new law. “He argued that the purpose of copyright law was to eventually free copyrighted works so they could be used or adapted by others.” He argued that the law’s effect would be to curb free expression.

7. Issue at Stake
the power of the federal government to extend the copyright on creative material such as songs, books and movies.
Stanford University professor Lawrence Lessig and Eldred though that Congress violated the Constitution when it passed the laws to let copyright owners renew the ownership rights to their works

8. Works for individual: extend of authors life and 70 plus years after
Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 extended the existing copyright terms by an additional 20 years from the terms set by the Copyright Act of 1976
Sponsored by the late Congressman and singer-songwriter Sonny Bono
Works for hire: 95 years from the date of publication or 120 years from the creation
Works for individual: extend of authors life and 70 plus years after

9. Does Congress have the legal power to grant exclusive copyright protection to content owners?
“This case questions the legality of Congress’ power to grant limited exclusive-copyright extension to content owners”
The intention was to extend the copyright protection for the eleventh time in forty years

10. Initial brief was filed on May 22, 2000
The case was argued on October 5, 2000 in front of a 3 judge panel
The case was decided on February 16, 2001
The appeals court upheld the decision of the district court in a 2-1 opinion
Following the ruling, plaintiffs petitioned for a rehearing en banc (in front of a full panel of judges, 9)

11. The Supreme Court ruled against Eldred and upheld the Copyright Extension Act by a 7-2 margin
“Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote that the Constitution gave the government wide leeway in dealing with copyrights. Ginsburg rejected Eldred’s claim that the copyright extension curbed First Amendment rights of free expression. She point out that the copyright law allowed for limited reproduction of copyrighted material and thus did not curb free expression.”

12. Ethical:
I don’t think that it is right that there was an extension of the copyright law. I think that there should be a balance of the rights of content producers and the general public and I think that the balance right now is ever in favor of the producers.

13. Work Cited