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Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998
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Part of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works of 1886 provided that copyrighted works be protected for the duration of the author's life plus no less than 50 years. The European Union extended the 50-year protection to 70 years in 1993, and the United States did the same on October 28, 1998, with the signing of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA). The CTEA allows works still under copyright in the United States to be granted copyright protection for the duration of the author's life plus 70 years for individual works and corporate works. Works published before January 1, 1978 are protected for up to 95 years. Works-for-hire, anonymous or pseudonymous works are protected for 95 years after publication or 120 years after creation under the CTEA. The Act is named after the now-deceased songwriter and singer Sonny Bono, who had lobbied for copyright extension. The CTEA is also known as the "Mickey Mouse Act" because one of the biggest proponents of the bill was the Disney Company. CTEA does not retroactively apply to works for which copyright protection had expired as of October 28, 1998.
Eldred v. Ashcroft
The CTEA was challenged by a case filed in 1999, Eldred v. Ashcroft. The plaintiff asserted that CTEA violated the United States Constitution's Copyright Clause, which grants Congress the power, "to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." The plaintiff sought an injunction against implementation of CTEA. Arguments were heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on October 9, 2002, and on January 15, 2003, the high court ruled in favor of the government in a 7-2 opinion. Copyright 2009 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
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