[Previous entry: "A veritable Renaissance man and all that."] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Pox Americana"]

10/18/2002: "Eldred V. Ashcroft transcript up"

http://www.aaronsw.com/2002/eldredTranscript My favorite quote: JUSTICE BREYER: All right, let me explain to you why it's important to me. I have a list. This is an economic statute. The harms that seem to be caused by it, the extension, I've listed as follows, approximate numbers, made up, but magnitude correct. The existing copyright holders who survive, their copyright survives 70 years, who have already been paid, on the numbers that were given, about $24 billion or more, will receive an extra $6 billion. That, I take it, is a harm. Their works have already been created. Harm number 2. The fact that people, for the 99 percent of the copyrights that have no commercial value after 70 years, have to find the copyright holder to put them in databases. The cost of that, on my numbers in here, made up, at least a billion dollars, or they can't find the people at all and get permission, an innumerable cost, un -- valuable cost to people who want to use it. Those are costs.