A big decision in the field of intellectual property law came down from the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday in Golan v. Holder.
From the first paragraph of the source article: “Congress may take books, musical compositions and other works out of the public domain, where they can be freely used and adapted, and grant them copyright status again, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.”
The works at issue in this case were foreign works that had entered the public domain under U.S. copyright law, but were not in the public domain overseas, and the majority felt conforming with the Berne Convention was the necessary route to take.
This was a 6-2 decision, with Justices Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito dissenting.
The entire decision (.pdf format) is linked in the title, while a more in depth analysis of the decision is linked in the source article below.
It will be interesting to see just how often Congress uses this power and the effect it will have on the arts in the U.S., especially the classical music community.
