Volume V

Issue : 3: February 8, 2007

• Israeli Court Rules Operation of Foreign Gambling Website a Criminal Offence Under Israeli Law
• Patents for Dynamic Web Pages Undergo Re examination
• Federal Court Awards Maximum Statutory Damages for Copyright Infringements
• Political Attack TV Ads Potentially Breach Copyright Act
• New Jersey Appeals Court Strengthens Privacy Rights of Internet Users
• U.S. First Sale Doctrine Applies to Audiobooks
• eBay Bans Auctions of Virtual Goods
• U.S. Courts Frequently Cite Wikipedia
• Italian Court Decriminalizes Not for Profit Downloading
• WTO Finds U.S. Non-Compliant with its Internet Gambling Decision
• Canadian Tax Authorities to Use Software to Catch Online Tax Evaders
• U.S. Court of Appeals Rejects Bid to Overturn Copyright Extensions for "Orphaned" Works

Home > Volume V > Issue 3: February 8, 2007 > U.S. Court of Appeals Rejects Bid to Overturn Copyright Extensions for "Orphaned" Works

U.S. Court of Appeals Rejects Bid to Overturn Copyright Extensions for "Orphaned" Works

A group of Internet archive and activist organizations has lost its bid to overturn U.S. copyright law amendments that extended copyright protection for “orphaned” works. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has affirmed a lower court decision, dismissing arguments that changes to U.S. copyright law in the 1990s violate First Amendment free speech rights and constitutional requirements of limited duration of copyrights. The plaintiffs in the case represented organizations that sought to make available for free on the Internet older, out-of-print works of little or no commercial value.

Prior to A group of Internet archive and activist organizations has lost its bid to overturn U.S. copyright law amendments that extended copyright protection for “orphaned” works. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has affirmed a lower court decision, dismissing arguments that changes to U.S. copyright law in the 1990s violate First Amendment free speech rights and constitutional requirements of limited duration of copyrights. The plaintiffs in the case represented organizations that sought to make available for free on the Internet older, out-of-print works of little or no commercial value.

Prior to 1978, extended copyright protection for these “orphaned” works was restricted by registration renewal requirements that served as a filter allowing works to fall into the public domain where the author did not actively seek to renew its copyright. The Copyright Renewal Act of 1992 and the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (1998) changed the U.S. copyright registration system by eliminating the notice and registration renewal requirement for works created between 1964 and 1977, and extending the renewal term to 67 years, effectively increasing the average copyright protection term for many works that would otherwise have fallen into the public domain. Critics of the law view these extensions as an effort to prolong Walt Disney Co.’s copyright over Mickey Mouse.

The Court rejected the plaintiff’s arguments that these extensions are constitutionally invalid, citing the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Eldred v. Ashcroft as having addressed essentially the same arguments and having held that the copyright amendments were constitutionally permissible.

For a copy of the U.S. Court of Appeals decision, visit:

Kahle v. Gonzales