3 ms·
> To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings an
by venomsnake 11y ago
> To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.
Depends on how you literally minded you read it and how the Supreme court feels:
1) Any copyright or patent that does not promote Science of Useful arts is unconstitutional
2) Only written words are protected, not visual or software.
3) There should be some limitation on the term but it could be way past couple of googols in years.
and so on. The constitution is (un) intentionally vague in a lot of places.
- anon4 11y agoYou forgot 4) Copyright cannot extend past the life of the author, since only the author can have exclusive rights to his writings. I.e. copyright is non-transferable to heirs, corporations, etc.
- hfsktr 11y agoDo you think I'm being paranoid if I thought that the author/copyright holder would suddenly have an "accident" if their death meant it would end the copyright?