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[Eldred-press] Effort to Reclaim Public Domain Scores Victory
- From: Eldred Press List <press AT eldred.cc>
- To: eldred-press AT lists.ibiblio.org
- Subject: [Eldred-press] Effort to Reclaim Public Domain Scores Victory
- Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 13:50:15 -0800
Title: Effort to Reclaim Public Domain Scores Victory
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, March 16, 2004
Center for Internet and Society
Media Release
Contact:
Professor Lawrence Lessig
Stanford Law School
lessig<at>pobox.com
Assistant Professor Ed Lee
The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.
(614)292-3201
elee<at>pobox.com
Elizabeth Rader
Fellow, Center for Internet and Society
(650) 724-0517
erader<at>law.stanford.edu
Professor Lawrence Lessig
Stanford Law School
lessig<at>pobox.com
Assistant Professor Ed Lee
The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.
(614)292-3201
elee<at>pobox.com
Elizabeth Rader
Fellow, Center for Internet and Society
(650) 724-0517
erader<at>law.stanford.edu
_________________________________
EFFORT TO RECLAIM PUBLIC DOMAIN SCORES VICTORY
Court Allows Challenge to Re-copyrighting Public
Domain
Works to Proceed
Stanford, CA - A major roadblock to reclaiming content for the public
Stanford, CA - A major roadblock to reclaiming content for the public
domain was removed today, when a U.S. District Court ruled that
a
case challenging re-copyrighting of public domain materials
could
proceed despite the government's insistence that the
Supreme
Court's decision in Eldred v. Ashcroft invalidated the
claims.
"Lawrence Golan, the conductor of the University of Denver's Lamont
"Lawrence Golan, the conductor of the University of Denver's Lamont
Symphony Orchestra, and the other artists involved will get
their
chance to show how severely they have been harmed by
Congress's
removal of numerous artistic works from the public domain by
the
grant of so-called 'restored' copyrights." said Edward Lee,
Assistant
Professor of Law at The Ohio State University Moritz College of
Law
and one of the attorneys for the Plaintiffs.
In the case, Golan and the other plaintiffs argued that Section 514
In the case, Golan and the other plaintiffs argued that Section 514
of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA) is
unconstitutional
because re-copyrighting works does not promote progress as
required
by the Copyright Clause, abridges speech in violation of the
First
Amendment, and violates Due Process by depriving the public
of
the free availability of public domain works. Section 514
of the
URAA was enacted in 1994 after the Uruguay Agreement
negotiations
and is now codified at 17 U.S.C. 104(a). While striking one
term
extension challenge based on the Eldred case, US District
Court
Chief Judge Lewis T. Babcock, rejected the government's Motion
to
Dismiss the case and allowed the plaintiff's three
remaining
claims to proceed.
Plaintiffs Lawrence Golan and Richard Kapp are internationally acclaimed
Plaintiffs Lawrence Golan and Richard Kapp are internationally acclaimed
conductors whose symphonies planned to perform musical works
that
were in the public domain, but re-copyrighted by the URAA. As a
result,
these and other orchestras can no longer perform whole classes of
works
by great foreign composers. Plaintiffs Ron Hall and
John McDonough are
film lovers who preserve and distribute old movies and television
shows.
Because URAA re-copyrights many public domain movies and
shows,
Hall and McDonough can no longer sell or afford to preserve these
old
films, which soon may be lost forever due to the decomposition of
the film.
The plaintiffs are represented by Elizabeth Rader with the Center for
The plaintiffs are represented by Elizabeth Rader with the Center for
Internet and Society (CIS) at Stanford Law School, by
Edward Lee,
Assistant Professor of Law at The Ohio State University Moritz
College
of Law and by Hugh Gottschalk and Carolyn Fairless at Wheeler,
Trigg
& Kennedy in Denver, CO.
Lawrence Lessig, founder and Director of CIS and a Stanford
Law
Professor said, "We look forward to the opportunity to
convince the court
that taking works out of the public domain doesn't promote
progress, it
harms progress." Professor Lessig is the author of
Free Culture, a book
about the importance of a shared public domain, which will be
released
later this month.
The case will now move forward and the plaintiffs will have an
The case will now move forward and the plaintiffs will have an
opportunity to show that the challenged law is
unconstitutional.
For this release:
For this release:
http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/about/cases/golan.press.3.16.pdf
Golan v. Ashcroft website:
http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/about/cases/golan_v_ashcroft.shtml
About Center for Internet and Society:
The Center for Internet and Society (CIS) is a public interest technology
Golan v. Ashcroft website:
http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/about/cases/golan_v_ashcroft.shtml
About Center for Internet and Society:
The Center for Internet and Society (CIS) is a public interest technology
law and policy program located at Stanford Law School and a part
of Law,
Science and Technology Program. The CIS brings together
scholars,
academics, legislators, students, programmers, security
researchers, and
scientists to study the interaction of new technologies and the
law and to
examine how the synergy between the two can either promote or
harm
public goods like free speech, privacy, public commons,
diversity, and
scientific inquiry. The CIS Cyberlaw Clinic gives Stanford Law
School
students an opportunity to work with clients on cases and legal
projects
that involve questions of technology, law and the public
interest.
--
- [Eldred-press] Effort to Reclaim Public Domain Scores Victory, Eldred Press List, 03/16/2004
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