[License-discuss] Golan v. Holder

[Chad Perrin]

On Sun, Jan 22, 2012 at 11:28:24PM -0800, Chris Travers wrote:
> 
> Is it just me or does Golan more or less read out of the Constitution
> any functional requirements regarding copyright law and read the
> copyright/patent clause basically as delegating unlimited power to
> Congress in this regard?  I mean can Congress now start allowing
> telephone directories to be copyrighted, since we no longer care about
> promoting the progress of anything?

That's what Congress and the Supreme Court have a tendency toward doing
over generational drift in every respect -- copyrights, patents,
interstate commerce, eminent domain, and so on.  This should come as no
surprise by now.

I don't think that Congress would try to limit licenses to individually
named licensees, though, as someone else suggested.  It would destroy
commercial EULAs as surely as it would destroy copyleft licensing.

-- 
Chad Perrin [ original content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ]