The Supreme Court has posted the transcript of today’s (!) oral argument in Golan v. Holder, the case about the constitutionality of taking works out of the public domain and extending copyright protection to them.
It’s an unusually good argument on all three sides (2 advocates and the court), but I think that Anthony T. Falzone’s effort for the Petitioners was especially impressive.
Meanwhile, in other copyright news….
Word comes to us via slashdot that the volunteers maintaining the timezone database have been sued for copyright infringement. The complaint was apparently filed in the District of Massachusetts last Friday, September 30th.
You’re using the timezone database yourself, aren’t you, Michael?
From the complaint, the defendants are being sued personally. These guys are volunteers. So it looks to me like they’re going to need a legal defense fund to accept donations.
On a quick scan, the complaint seems bogus: I don’t think this is a copyrightable compilation under Feist.