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Politech is the oldest Internet resource devoted to politics and technology. Launched in 1994 by Declan McCullagh, the mailing list has chronicled the growing intersection of culture, technology, politics, and law. Since 2000, so has the Politech web site.
[Note the aggressively Democratic-Republican bipartisan nature of this press release. And y'all hope to get copyright law changed on *their* watch? Fat chance. --Declan] --- U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., Chairman _______________________________________ www.house.gov/judiciary News Advisory For immediate release Contact: Jeff Lungren/Terry Shawn January 15, 2003 202-225-2492 Sensenbrenner/Conyers Statement on Supreme Court Upholding 1998 Copyright Protection Extension Act WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today in a 7-2 ruling, the United States Supreme Court upheld the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act passed by Congress. The Act extends the terms of copyrights to "life of the author plus 70 years" while corporately-owned works are protected for 95 years. The Constitution allows Congress to give exclusive rights to the authors and inventors of their works and inventions to " promote the progress of Science and useful arts" for a limited time. The Copyright Term Extension Act introduced by the late Sonny Bono (R-Calif.) extended the duration of copyright protection for 20 additional years. House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-Wis.), Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), House Judiciary Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chairman Howard Coble (R-N.C.), and Ranking Member Howard L. Berman (D-Calif.) were among those who filed an amicus brief with the Court in favor of the 1998 law. Chairman Sensenbrenner said, "I am pleased the Supreme Court defended the Constitutional prerogative of Congress to pass the Copyright Term Extension Act. The law provides writers, musicians, and other artists with greater incentive to create and disseminate their works which ultimately benefit the American public. The United States produces more intellectual property than any other country in the world. The copyright and related industries employ millions of American workers, and its vitality is critical to our national economy. The Court's decision will ensure that American copyright holders will generate additional revenues from domestic and foreign sales of their copyrighted works." Added Ranking Member Conyers, "I am not surprised that the Court upheld the prerogative of Congress to promote and protect authorship. Copyright protection is the main incentive that content owners have to create and distribute their creations; if Congress does not act pursuant to its constitutional responsibilities to update that protection as technology advances, we will take away that incentive and lose what is this country's number one export. This decision demonstrates this country's commitment to encouraging authorship and free expression." #### ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?q=declan -------------------------------------------------------------------------