The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act was passed in 1998,
extending the term of copyright protection from 50 years to 70
years from the date of death of the author. Works by corporations
were given protection for 95 years from the date of creation. The
legislation became known as the Mickey Mouse Act because Disney had
pushed to have it passed before the expiry of its copyright in
Mickey Mouse expired in 2003. As the law currently stands, Mickey
Mouse is protected until 2023.
The lawsuit, which is now supported by a number of internet
publishers, consumer bodies and academics, asserts that Congress
overstepped its authority and violated the Constitution’s principle
of free speech by extending the protection of copyright.
In fact, those bringing the case point out that Congress has
extended copyrights 11 times in the past 40 years which, they
argue, “has rendered meaningless” the Constitution’s “plain and
express intent to restrict the duration of monopolies over
speech.”
The Act brought the US position largely into line with that in
the EU which, by a Directive of 1993, became, for most works, 70
years from the date of death of the author and, for corporations,
70 years from the start of the year in which the work was
created.
