[wordup] Eldred Attracts Heavyweight Supporters

[Adam Shand]

These guys are doing important work.  Help them out, give them money,
link to them, tell your friends.  Even just educate yourself and read
more about it.

This is really important.

Adam.

From: http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/05/22/1310219

Eldred Attracts Heavyweight Supporters
Posted by timothy on Wednesday May 22, @09:00AM

dipfan writes: "Opening briefs have now been filed with the Supreme
Court for the Eldred v Ashcroft copyright case, arguing that the Sonny
Bono Copyright Term Extension Act is unconstitutional. The
anti-extension case has attracted some big name supporters, including
Intel, and Nobel prize winning economist Milton Freidman, who argue it
is "highly unlikely that the economic benefits from copyright extension"
outweigh the additional costs, and that copyright extension reduces
consumer welfare. (Previous coverage of the case on /. here and here)" 

More: http://eon.law.harvard.edu/openlaw/eldredvashcroft/

O P E N L A W: Eldred v. Ashcroft

Congress has extended copyright terms eleven times in the last 40 years,
each time further distorting the balance between private incentive and
enrichment of the public domain. When the Sonny Bono Copyright Term
Extension Act added 20 years to existing and future copyrights, Eric
Eldred and other commercial and non-commercial users of public domain
works sued.

In February, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear our appeal,
which argues that the CTEA is unconstitutional. Thanks from the Openlaw
team to everyone who has helped us get here.

QUESTIONS PRESENTED:

1. Did the D.C. Circuit err in holding that Congress has the power under
the Copyright Clause to extend retroactively the term of existing
copyrights?

2. Is a law that extends the term of existing and future copyrights
"categorically immune from challenge under the First Amendment"?

Legal Filings: Read our opening brief and the numerous amici ("friends
of the court") supporting Eldred's case -- including multiple Nobel
laureate economists, the Free Software Foundation, constitutional and IP
law profs, the American Library Association, the Eagle Forum, the
American Historical Association, distinguished historians, and Intel
Corp. An amazing group of people and institutions spanning the
ideological and sectoral spectrums.
see.

Eric Eldred and we at the Berkman Center think the Sonny Bono Act robs
the American public of the rich and diverse public domain guaranteed by
the Constitution. If you would like to help us reclaim that public
space, first register and then come collaborate. See also the companion
case of Golan v. Ashcroft. 

Even More: http://eldred.cc/