Here is an article by Professor Marci Hamilton in which she discusses how the public might benefit from the unusually high level of attention now being given to copyright issues by the mass-communications firms.

I disagree that the constitutional issue is as tricky as Professor Hamilton makes out. Since copyright's purpose is to enlarge the public domain, a "limited time" is one which serves this purpose. A term which is too long to provide a credible incentive (such as we presently have) is not a constitutionally "limited" time. And since extending existing copyrights can't enlarge the public domain, it should be considered unconstitutional except in special circumstances.

I also disagree that the U.S. would suffer any disadvantage from the "rule of the shorter term" being applied in Europe. Under this rule U.S. copyrights would expire sooner in Europe (Except in Germany) than they would absent the rule, but European copyrights will expire sooner here than in Europe. Why should a revenue stream for a few entertainment conglomerates be considered better for us than a larger public domain ?

T.