Lawrence Lessig, a Stanford law professor, just lost his case in Supreme Court.
He was arguing that the Congress has overstepped its Constitutional authority through its abuse of the copyright system.
As an editorial aside, I’d like to say that I’m pretty disappointed by the defeat. I’m no expert in the law, but ministers are considered to have some expertise when it comes to morality (which ought to undergird the law).
The laws governing copyright in our society are excessive. First and most importantly, we are losing a public domain. Lessig’s (non-legal) arguments about the hypocrisy of Disney are very compelling–Disney keeps its copyright on Mickey Mouse despite making most of its money off reinventing characters that have passed into the public domain (Beauty & the Beast, Cinderella, Snow White, etc).
But that just deals with the longevity of copyright in America. I also consider that my fair-use rights are being infringed upon by rigid copyright schemes. To my knowledge, every empirical study has shown that electronic redistribution of products increases sales. You can read more about it.
For the record, I urge everyone to obey the law as it is written and to agitate for change in the meantime.
Lessig will probably never read this, but I think he’s fighting a good fight.