UPDATE - US Supreme Court upholds copyright law extension
Wednesday January 15, 10:36 am ET
By James Vicini
WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld on Wednesday a 1998 law extending copyright protection by 20 years, delaying when creative works such as Walt Disney Co.'s (NYSE:DIS - News) Mickey Mouse cartoons, F. Scott Fitzgerald's novels and George Gershwin's songs become public property.
The 7-2 ruling was a victory for supporters of the law, including large media companies and song publishers that argued the longer term was needed to protect a vital industry that contributes more than $500 billion to the U.S. economy.
It dealt a defeat to an Internet publisher and others who challenged the law for limiting free speech and for harming the creative process by locking up material that they said should be in the public domain for all to use without charge.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said for the court majority that the U.S. Congress in adopting the law acted within its authority and did not exceed constitutional limits. She also said the law does not violate constitutional free-speech protections.
The law's opponents argued the copyright law's extension closed off the Internet to a broad part of common culture at a time when the Internet allows more people to draw upon creative works without restraint.
At issue in the ruling was the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, which extended the exclusive period that artists and corporations can control their creative works by 20 years.
DISNEY CARTOON FILMS WITH MICKEY MOUSE
As a result, thousands of well-known works, including the earliest Disney cartoon films with Mickey Mouse, Fitzgerald's novels and the Gershwin song "Rhapsody in Blue," were prevented from passing into the public domain. Billions of dollars of entertainment-industry profits were at stake.
Opponents said the law violated the copyright clause of the U.S. Constitution, which gives authors and inventors exclusive right to their works for an unspecified "limited" period of time to "promote the progress of science and useful arts."
The first federal copyright law, in 1790, established a copyright term of 14 years, with an optional 14-year extension. By the time Congress overhauled copyright laws in 1976, that term had stretched to life of the author plus 50 years, or 75 years for works owned by corporations.
The 1998 law extended the term for another 20 years. Congress adopted the legislation, named after the late congressman and singer from California, to bring U.S. law into conformity with the European Union.
The ruling was a victory for the U.S. Justice Department, which defended the law's constitutionality.
Ginsburg said Congress had wide leeway in deciding how long copyright protection should last. She said lawmakers had taken into consideration the European Union copyright term and "relevant demographic, economic and technological changes."
In summarizing the ruling from the bench, Ginsburg said the court was satisfied that Congress acted rationally. She said the copyright scheme incorporates its own safeguards protecting free speech.
Justices John Paul Stevens and Stephen Breyer dissented.
