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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Colleagues,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I commend for your reading pleasure the U.S. Supreme Court decision in <i>Golan v. Holder</i>, 565 U. S. ____ (2012), which holds broadly that Congress can restore the copyrights of works previously in the public domain in order to conform to the requirements of the Berne Convention. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>See <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/10-545.pdf">http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/10-545.pdf</a> and <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sec_17_00000104---A000-.html">17 U.S.C. 104A</a>. This 6-2 decision was written by the court's copyright expert, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It relies heavily on the court's earlier decision in <i>Eldred v. Ashcroft</i>, which some of you may remember from a few years ago and which affirmed Congressional power to extend copyright terms.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Besides being a well-written summary of the purposes of copyright and the balance struck by copyright law, the <i>Golan</i> decision emphasizes again for us that the public domain isn't quite as safe as licenses.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>/Larry<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt'>Lawrence Rosen<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt'>Rosenlaw & Einschlag, a technology law firm (www.rosenlaw.com) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt'>3001 King Ranch Road, Ukiah, CA 95482<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>