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Victory for First-amendment review of copyright law Lawrence Lessig, A big victory: Golan v. Gonzales, Lessig blog, September 5, 2007. Excerpt:
Comment. The OA connection is indirect but powerful. This decision expands the range of First-Amendment scrutiny of copyright legislation. In its wake, federal courts could overturn the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, which retroactively copyrighted material already in the public domain (i.e. committed piracy against the public domain), and could overturn the 30 year old opt-out system that copyrights tangible expressions by default, from birth, and eliminates the need for registration and renewal. If it had either of these effects, then it would enlarge the public domain and thereby enlarge the set of works that could be made OA without further permission. |