Stanford Center for Internet and Society

CIS Founder and Executive Director Professor Lawrence Lessig argued this constitutional challenge to the Copyright Term Extension Act before the United States Supreme Court on October 9, 2002. Eldred argues that the Constitution allows Congress to grant copyright only for “Limited Times” and as necessary to encourage authors to create works, and that the extension of the term of existing and future copyrights by 20 years exceeds Congress’s constitutional powers, at the expense of the public domain. Many SLS students have assisted Professor Lessig with research and cite checking for the Eldred briefs. On January 15, 2003, the Supreme Court upheld the CTEA. For more information about the Eldred case, see www.eldred.cc.