Justice Stevens' dissent in Eldred

A minor point re: Eldred

In his dissent, in Part VI of his opinion, Justice Stevens notes that "only one year's worth of creative work -- that copyrighted in 1923 -- has fallen into the public domain during the last 80 years." That seems wrong to me. Even with all the interim extensions while the 1976 Act was being considered, some works went into the public domain each year before 1978. Then, in 1978, works first published in 1921 went into the public domain. And, in January 1998 (remember, the Sonny Bono Act was only effective Oct 1998), works published in 1922 went into the public domain. Finally, as best as I can calculate, works copyrighted in 1923 -- which Justice Stevens referenced -- are still subject to copyright protection, and will be until 2018.

Did he made a mistake, or do I have this all wrong?

Joe Bauer

Prof. Joseph P. Bauer
Notre Dame Law School
Notre Dame, IN 46556
Phone: 574-631-6514 FAX: 574-631-4197 Received on Mon Jan 27 2003 - 15:02:47 GMT