Audio Video News

The Supreme Court's recent announcement that it will review an extension of copyright terms enacted during the Clinton administration has won praise from the Consumer Electronics Association.

A CEA press release that appeared shortly after the announcement makes it clear that the trade group sees a shorter copyright period as being in the best interests of its manufacturer members and consumers in general. As in many other situations, its position is directly opposed to that of groups like the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which tout the advantages of longer copyrights.

"The Supreme Court's decision to hear arguments in this copyright case affirms the grave threat to innovation and public access that has been evident in seemingly indefinite copyright term extensions by Congress," said CEA president and CEO Gary Shapiro in a prepared statement. "At issue is the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA). … Considering that the Constitution provides artists exclusive rights for a 'limited' time, one must question if lawmakers have not overlooked the equal, if not greater, responsibility to preserve the public domain, which is prerequisite to future growth and creativity.

"Copyright, as envisioned by the Founding Fathers, serves a dual purpose—that of creating an incentive to promote creativity and that of promoting broad public access to creative works. … Creative work is to be encouraged and rewarded, but copyright law must ultimately serve the cause of promoting broad public availability. The Supreme Court will effectively decide whether people will have access to information, education, and entertainment from creators long since deceased or whether a few large companies will be allowed to choke off access by future generations."

Prior to the extension, the limit on copyrights was 50 years, after which protected intellectual properties—books, plays, and songs among them—entered the public domain. At the insistence of the Walt Disney Company, whose copyright on the Mickey Mouse character was about to expire, that limit was extended by Congress in 1998 to 70 years for individuals and 95 years for corporations. US law is now in agreement with its European counterpart in regard to the copyright period.

In February of 2001, a three-judge federal appeals court upheld the copyright extension. That decision was lauded by the MPAA. "The Court of Appeals decision today is a joyous one," MPAA president Jack Valenti said at the time. "It confirms that our nation's creators and copyright owners are deserving of the same level of protection enjoyed by their counterparts in the European Union."

Copyright terms have been repeatedly extended as the average American's lifespan has lengthened—"11 times in the past 40 years," as Shapiro pointed out. In the early days of the post-colonial US, copyrights were limited to only 14 years. "It is highly doubtful the framers intended the 'limited' term of copyright to be extended on a routine and regular basis," he added.