Tag Archives: Copyright

Last week was a big week in U.S. copyright law. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Golan v. Holder, upholding § 514 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, which in effect gave copyright protection to certain preexisting works of Berne member countries that are protected in their country of origin, but not protected in the United States (e.g., were in the public domain in the United States). Coincidentally (?), on the same day, a number of popular websites “went dark” to protest the Stop On-line Piracy Act (SOPA) bill pending before Congress. (Proponents of SOPA say that it is necessary to protect intellectual property rights in the internet age, while opponents say that it would promote censorship and stifle the “free market” of the worldwide web.)  Not to be left out, on Thursday, the USPTO issued a position paper on the “Fair Use of Copies of [Non-Patent Literature]” in the patent examination process. Continue reading this entry