2 ms·
No the judge doesn't. The more likely situation is that the constitutional goals of copyright are not an exhaustive list or precondition of properties of a work
by roel_v 15y ago
No the judge doesn't. The more likely situation is that the constitutional goals of copyright are not an exhaustive list or precondition of properties of a work to be copyrightable. The article says 'early Circuit ruling', meaning at a) it's 'only' a circuit ruling, and b) that it might have been from a long time ago. What is 'useful art'? Are they going to argue that some horror movies aren't copyrightable? Or Justin Bieber songs? This argument is a stretch, I can't see it going far.
- _delirium 15y agoIn addition, there's quite a bit of leeway with the necessary & proper clause (though that may not be needed here). Since judges determining on a case-by-case basis the usefulness of a specific work is pretty obviously unworkable, the Copyright Clause's grant of power to Congress must include the right to set clear rules on classes of copyrightable works, even if some non-zero percentage of works in that class don't individually promote the progress of science and the useful arts, because that's a necessary activity for Congress to be able to create a workable copyright system. (That's one possible argument, anyway.)