Resources and information about legal and court cases challenging the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Law.

Article about Eldred v. Reno case to overturn the copyright extension act. By Joyce Slaton. [Wired]

Article presenting both sides of the term extension debate. By Gail Russell Chaddock. [Christian Science Monitor]

Editorial by Steve Zeitlin opposing pending copyright extension. Summarizes public interest issues and notes that Disney is leading campaign along with ASCAP and Gershwin Family Trust. [New York Times] [Full text requires payment.]

Open law public forum for collaboration and discussion on the case challenging the Bono Act's 20 year extension of the copyright terms.

Open law public forum for collaboration and discussion on the case challenging the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act and "restoration" of expired copyrights.

Interview with Eric Eldred about his constitutional challenge to the Sonny Bono Act. By Andrea L. Foster. [Chronicle of Higher Education]

Editorial supporting the Eldred case. "Vast quantities of creative material shouldn't be perpetually owned privately, and Congress's repeated extensions of protection to copyright holders have shredded any meaningful limit." [Washington Post]

"Antitrust lawyer Chris Sprigman has written a thoughtful column in Findlaw's Writ on the issues behind the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act and the legal challenge (Eldred v. Ashcroft) to that law." News and reader discussion. [Slashdot]

"Disney, The Copyright Term Extension Act, and Eldred v. Ashcroft." By Chris Sprigman. [FindLaw's Writ]

News of CTEA and other "intellectual property" laws passed by Congress. By David Roy Ellis. [Clearwater Bar Association]

How to determine what is in the public domain in the US after the Copyright Term Extension Act. Discusses trademark and right of publicity issues that may burden otherwise "rights-free" materials.

Comments prepared for the NINCH Copyright Town Meeting on the Public Domain at the Chicago Historical Society by Diane M. Zorich.

"As an economic matter, the CTEA amounts to a state giveaway of public domain property, pure and simple." By Richard Epstein. [Financial Times]

"A Supreme Court ruling on a 20-year extension of copyright protection could decide much of what Web surfers get to see, hear, and share." By Jane Black. [Business Week]

Summary of issue and the arguments, and links to legal documents and other resources about the case over the constitutionality of the Copyright Term Extension Act. [Washington Post]

"The Stanford University law professor filed a suit ... which alleged that Congress had overstepped its authority in passing the 1998 'Copyright Term Extension Act'." News and discussion forum. [Plastic]

News of arguments in the case against the retroactive 20-year copyright extension and forum discussion. [Slashdot]

News and forum discussion of Lawrence Lessig's arguments to the US Supreme Court in Eldred v. Ashcroft. [kuro5hin]

Discusses shifts in the perceived purposes of copyright law from public benefits to author profits. By Mike Godwin. [The American Lawyer]

Collection of materials, provided by the primary plaintiff. Includes timeline, text of court briefs, and links to articles, plaintiffs, and lawyers involved in the case.

Argues that the Foreign Commerce Clause of the US Constitution supports the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act.

Official text of the decision upholding the copyright extension act, in PDF format. (801K)

Text of the decision, with links to other cases cited.

Article about Eldred v. Reno's challenge to the Copyright Term Extension Act. By Thomas Claburn. [Smart Business]

Free encyclopedia entry about the act.

Editorial citing the lawsuit against "The Wind Done Gone" as an example of what's wrong with copyright term extension. By Lawrense Lessig. [New York Times] [Free registration required.]

"Maybe we ought to stop coddling the Scrooge McDucks and free Steamboat Willie." By James Surowiecki. [New Yorker]