[KLUG Members] Copyright extension upheld

[Jamie McCarthy]

As I mentioned in my talk on Your Rights Online, the Eldred case was
before the Supreme Court.  Larry Lessig argued that Congress
retroactively extending copyright 40 years over the past 40 years is
a violation of the Constitution, which says:

    The Congress shall have power... to promote the progress of
    science and useful arts by securing for limited times to
    authors and inventors the exclusive rights to their respective
    writings and discoveries.

By a vote of 7-2, the Supreme Court of the United States just decided
that it's Constitutional for Congress to extend copyright by forty
years every forty years.  The Sonny Bono copyright extension act
stands.  Watch for another 20-year copyright extension in 2020;  as
Sonny Bono himself said, copyright should last "forever minus a day."

No more details known at this time, the decision just came down, but
detailed news should be forthcoming in a few hours.