Where is Larry Lessig when you need him? Surely he will want to weigh in on this latest outrage.
A federal court has taken the horrible Supreme Court decision in Eldred to its putrid logical conclusion - allowing Congress to take works that have already fallen into the public domain and letting them extend copyright protections in an ex post facto fashion (!!!)
For those of you who make a living performing Shakespeare, please beware. A few rich lobbyists can now take that right away from you by giving monopolies to the Bard's great-great-great-great grandchildren (or whatever media conglomerate that chooses to buy up the rights).
Please God, let them appeal this.
[Note to the plaintiffs' attorneys: Have you considered making the argument of an unconstitutional taking under the 5th Amendment? Admittedly, it would extend the staggeringly inane view that intellectual property is
equivalent to real property. But if authors have a "property right" in their creative works that are copyrighted, then surely my rights in the same property become vested once the work enters the public domain. To take that "property" away from me after the fact without compensation would seem to be a "taking" to me. Just a thought. Not that it will make a difference, mind you. There is no aspect of constitutional law that the legal system will gladly ignore in order to sustain coercive monopolies on information in today's world.]
Out-f***ing-rageous!
Posted by Justin Levine at May 26, 2005 04:45 PM | TrackBack