Freedom - Credit: dazzied on Flickr (CC BY)
The US District Court of Colorado has determined that it’s unconstitutional to take works out of the public domain.
The US District Court for the District of Colorado has just granted a motion for summary judgment in Golan v. Holder you will want to know about. It is a very big deal. Anthony Falzone, Executive Director of the Fair Use Project at Stanford’s Center for Internet and Society, who led this effort, says, “It is the first time a court has held any part of the Copyright Act violates the First Amendment and the first time any court has placed specific constitutional limits on the government’s ability to erode the public domain.” I read it as saying that nothing, not any treaty, not even the Berne Convention, can trump the US Constitution.
I’m confused by the word “foreign” in the Groklaw article. Does this mean we won’t respect other governments eroding the PD? Does this mean Rashomon is PD again?