When Washington Meets Wikipedia

We briefly report on two intersecting developments in the world of IP this week: the Supreme Court’s affirmation of Congressional copyright authority on the one hand—and the take–it–to–the–Internet protest of the same by a who’s who of websites.

Golan v. Holder. The Supreme Court recently affirmed a lower court ruling that the Copyright Clause of the Constitution does not stand in the way to stop Congress from “restoring” copyright protection to thousands of foreign–authored works that had fallen into the public domain, in some cases, for decades before Congress stepped in. The case considered a 1994 law enacted to carry out an international convention, and would restore copyright protection to works ranging from C.S. Lewis books to Picasso paintings. Petitioners—publishers, musicians, and others formerly enjoying free access to the works removed from the public domain—argued (unsuccessfully) that Congress’s actions exceeded its authority under the Copyright Clause and transgressed First Amendment limitations.

SOPA. The Stop Online Piracy Act (House) and the Protect IP Act (Senate)—backed primarily by the movie and music industries to fight Internet piracy—continues to draw fire from Internet companies, which worry the proposed legislation would promote censorship and hobble the Web. Beyond traditional lobbying activities, however, websites are coming up with novel ways of registering protest. Wikipedia shut down its (English language version) website for 24 hours. Google decked out with a blacked–out logo, and led the charge with a message urging users to sign an anti–SOPA petition to Congress. Facebook’s Zuckerberg posted (of course) about the bills, and also provided a link to a page outlining the company’s opposition. So far the steamroller seems to have had an effect—former Congressional sponsors are withdrawing support right and left.

Posted by Stacy Stitham