Did a little more research on this and my copyright lawyer friend ( who works both sides as it where) thinks its chances are slim to none that the plaintiffs win. Eldred Vs Ashcroft ( aka the Sony Bono Copyright extension) bore a lot of similarities, but was slapped down 7-2 . The difference of course was that involved extending copyright, not allowing a work to be retroactively copyrighted but at the center was the same argument that Congress did not have the power to change or extend copyright law. Also in this case you are talking about a pretty major treaty obligation as the Feds have and will argue that if the US does not honor this, than the copyright on US films will not be honored outside the US.
On a side note, it is REALLY cool that besides the music prof in Denver, one of the named plaintiffs is Ron Hall of Festival Films I don't think I have ever known a named plaintiff in a Supreme Court case before. On Tue, Mar 8, 2011 at 11:45 AM, Brigid Duffy <[email protected]> wrote: > So this involves a University of Denver music professor, works by Prokofiev > and the Uruguay Agreement -- > > * > http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/03/supremes-will-decide-if-public-domain-works-can-be-re-copyrighted.ars > * > * > * > Shouldn't this have come out on a Monday? Or a Friday the 13th? > > Brigid Duffy > Academic Technology > San Francisco State University > San Francisco, CA 94132-4200 > E-mail: [email protected] > > VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues > relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, > preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and > related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective > working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication > between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and > distributors. > > -- Jessica Rosner Media Consultant 224-545-3897 (cell) 212-627-1785 (land line) [email protected]
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
