Summary

Larry Lessig flagellates himself about losing the Eldred case, which upheld the legality of copyright extensions. He shouldn’t: Eldred was unwinnable. (The Court’s 7-2 vote is one clue). Besides, the worst of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act’s effects can still be made to disappear, if courts deem it “fair use” to copy an old work whose copyright owner hasn’t taken reasonable steps to provide notice of his rights. This is what Bill Patry and I propose in a forthcoming article in the California Law Review. The present paper is based on that article and on a stint of guest blogging that I did for the Lessig Blog the week of August 22, 2004. See http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/posner.shtml.

Recommended Citation

Posner, Richard A. (2004) "Eldred and Fair Use," The Economists' Voice: Vol. 1 : Iss. 1, Article 3.
DOI: 10.2202/1553-3832.1003
Available at: http://www.bepress.com/ev/vol1/iss1/art3