CEA Contends Copyright Term Extension Violates Constitution, Public Domain Should Take Priority

28-May-02

In passing the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA), Congress failed to properly weigh the benefits of copyright term extension against the harms to the public domain, according to a brief filed by friends of the court including the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) in Eldred vs. Ashcroft. The amici curiae contend the CTEA violates the Constitution and should be struck down. CEA and others argue in the brief that the CTEA ""stifles creativity that draws upon existing works and denies society the benefits of a vibrant public domain."" The CTEA lengthened the terms of copyright protection in several ways, including adding 20 years to existing copyrights (to life plus 70 years) and extending corporate copyrights to 95 years total. The brief explains that CTEA personally affects the signatories because they experience restricted access to existing copyrighted materials including books, films, music and software. As a result, they are unable to reinterpret many works of the past to create new works.Additionally, the brief notes, ""The Framers of the Constitution understood that the creation of new works and subsequent public access to those works were vital to society; thus, they limited the copyright monopoly's duration to assure the development of a healthy public domain. The public domain serves not only as the repository of accessible works for enjoyment and use, but also as a foundation for new creations. ""A healthy and vibrant public domain is essential to assure the continued supply of source material for innovation and creation. Congressional actions that do not promote this progress should be struck down.""The amici curiae brief is available online at www.ce.org/about_cea/cea_initiatives/viewCEAInitiativesRecentActions.asp?name=253.

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