US Supreme Court sells out to Disney

A ridiculous 7-2 decision in which the Court refused to take seriously its Constitutional duty to constrain Congress over the extension of copyright terms. Here’s Larry Lessig’s sombre reflections on his defeat:

“So I’ve got to go get onto a plane to go to my least favorite city (DC). My inbox is filling with kind emails from friends. Also with a few of a different flavor. It’s my nature to identify most closely with those of the different flavor. David Gossett at the law firm of Mayer Brown wrote Declan, ‘Larry lost Eldred, 7-2.’ Yes, no matter what is said, that is how I will always view this case. The constitutional question is not even close. To have failed to get the Court to see it is my failing.

It has often been said that movements gain by losing in the Supreme Court. Some feminists say it would have been better to lose Roe, because that would have built a movement in response. I have often wondered whether it would ever be possible to lose a case and yet smell victory in the defeat. I[base ‘]m not yet convinced it[base ‘]s possible. But if there is any good that might come from my loss, let it be the anger and passion that now gets to swell against the unchecked power that the Supreme Court has said Congress has. When the Free Software Foundation, Intel, Phillis Schlafly, Milton Friedman, Ronald Coase, Kenneth Arrow, Brewster Kahle, and hundreds of creators and innovators all stand on one side saying, ‘this makes no sense,’ then it makes no sense. Let that be enough to move people to do something about it. Our courts will not.

I will always be grateful to Eric Eldred, and our other plaintiffs, for putting his faith in this case. I will always regret not being able to meet that faith with the success it deserves.

What the Framers of our constitution did is not enough. We must do more.”

More comment…

Disney Wins, Eldred (and everyone else) Loses [Slashdot]. News.com’s brief take and more from AP. On Lessig’s own blog: “The Supreme Court rejected our challenge to the Sonny Bono law.” Doc Searls is angry. Halley empathises with a Right On Alpha Male. Megnut growls: “Just another example of government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations.” The Shifted Librarian is unimpressed: “What I’d like to know is if the Bono Extension doesn’t exceed constitutional limits, what does?” Dave says, “ Donna Wentworth is gathering links on the Eldred case.” I’m worried. [[ t e c h n o c u l t u r e ]]

NYT editorial: “The Coming of Copyright Perpetuity”.

At last someone says it: US media have lost the will to think for themselves

I’n no great fan of the British media — especially the UK tabloids. It seems to me that they have a relentless dumbing-down effect on political debate and public argument. And I was taken in for years by the conventional wisdom that US journalism had higher standards of objectivity and editorial quality. But since 9/11 I’ve been rethinking that position. Firstly I see precious little real diversity in the mainstream US media: the only newspaper which still seems capable of publishing stuff which is seriously critical of the ‘war’ on terror and the upcoming campaign against Iraq is the venerable old NYT. Secondly, a lot of mainstream US journalism is, well, boring and uninspired. Last time I was in Washington, for example, the Post used to send me to sleep.

How nice to see, then, that an English hack resident in the US, Matthew Engel, has finally penned a piece which is highly critical of US journalism. “The worldwide turmoil caused by President Bush’s policies”, he writes, “goes not exactly unreported, but entirely de-emphasised. Guardian writers are inundated by emails from Americans asking plaintively why their own papers never print what is in these columns (in my experience, these go hand-in-hand with an equal number insulting us for the same reason). In the American press, day after day, the White House controls the agenda. The supposedly liberal American press has become a dog that never bites, hardly barks but really loves rolling over and having its tummy tickled. “

Good stuff. And there’s lots more in the same vein. The bottom line is this: a working democracy requires vigorous, independent and critical media that reach the majority of citizens. The US doesn’t have those at present. The Fourth Estate has emasculated itself: an important check on political and corporate power has evaporated. And it’s not just in relation to political power that this matters: look at how the corrupt hyping of dot-com companies went unremarked; and where were the watchdogs of US financial journalism when Enron’s swindling was at its height? And as for the Savings and Loan scandal of the Reagan years, well… words fail one.