Supreme Court visits "Sonny Bono" term limit extentions
The Supreme Court announced February 19, 2002 that it will take on its first copyright related review in over 15 years and hear an appeal to the case of Eldred v. Ashcroft dealing with the Sonny Bono term limit extentions. The court upheld the copyright extension that Congress granted to existing copyrights in 1998. The controversial ruling was a significant victory for large corporate media companies, including the Hollywood motion picture and television studios, which had lobbied for the extension. The movie industry failed to mention to the court that most movies that have fallen into public domain were because of disinterest by the studios to exercise renewal rights.
Opponents saw the ruling as another step toward a perpetual copyright and the gradual loss of the legal concept of public domain. Even members of the court who voted for the extension said it was bad public policy, but within the constitutional authority of congress (this despite the exact wording of the constitution to the contrary).
There you have it, in an almost perfect mirror of the infamous Dred Scott decision, the court has decided that bad laws passed by congress are ok even if they usurpt basic human rights.
Federal district court rules in Capitol Records vs Naxos
In a more positive note, there was a victory in protection of public domain decided in May 2003. Following is quoted from Salan Intellectual Property Group that defended Naxos.
Capitol Records v. Naxos
In a May decision, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of Salans' client Naxos of America, the US classical music recordings distributor, in the common law copyright infringement and unfair competition case Capitol Records v. Naxos. The suit arose from Naxos' distribution of restorations of recordings of historic performances of classical music by acclaimed artists Yehudi Menuhin, Pablo Casals and Edwin Fischer, recorded in the 1930s. ..... The Court's rulings clarify the circumstances in which a plaintiff, typically the large record labels, can claim exclusive rights in sound recordings of public domain works fixed before February 15, 1972. The need for such clarity arises from the fact that the United States Copyright Act provides no protection for sound recordings fixed before February 15, 1972, but provides that State common law and statutes may apply to such recordings until February 15, 2067.
Capitol had essentially argued that the above provisions provide Capitol with a "common law" copyright in the recordings at issue until February 15, 2067, a contention flatly rejected in the Court's rulings. The Court's rulings therefore open the door for companies desiring to compete with the majors by releasing restorations of old recordings and, as Judge Sweet found in his May 6, 2003 opinion, will encourage the preservation and dissemination of historic musical performances as well as create a new generation of listeners of such fine works....
The Court concluded that Naxos had no obligation to seek Capitol's authorization prior to restoring and distributing the recordings at issue as they are in public domain and may be freely copied by all.
Not mentioned by Salan is that the re-issues by Naxos carry
new phonorecord protection and are not themselves in the public
domain. Re-issues by PastMasters
of pre-1972 works are placed in the public domain for your unrestricted
use.
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