官司输了，但是舆论赢了。最大的收获就是走向公众，成功启蒙：这是一次重大的舆论胜利，一次成功的民众启蒙。正如《纽约时报》文章的标题所言：“大公司赢了，但是民众的意识觉醒了”。知识产权问题从一个边缘事情，由此变成了公众话题。莱斯格等人从最早的无人理解，娱乐巨头还给他们送上“无政府主义”、“共产主义分子”、“胡闹分子”等一顶顶颠覆形象的帽子，而现在，更多的理解并支持，包括哈佛、斯坦福等著名高校法学院教授、媒体记者，以及包括英特尔在内的众多IT企业。这一次，最高院的结果是7:2而不是9:0，法官Breyers和Stevens成为支持者。已经是一个非常了不起的开端。

娱乐巨头和国会不可能再为所欲为：1998年，国会批准延长法案时，似乎是一个无关紧要，与公众无关的问题，因此就含糊、草率地通过，下一次要故伎重演就不会那么简单。可以想象，等到20年过后，迪斯尼为了继续占有，还会继续努力修改法律，再度延长法案。可是我们需要等到2014年吗？

米老鼠不再那么可爱：版权保护已经越来越远离创新的需要，越来越远离真正作品创造者的利益，而成为少数版权工业巨头的牟利工具。迪斯尼的形象因此受到质疑。过去，只有他们指责别人“盗版”，甚至最近被一个下载MP3的大学生也称为“小偷”。现在大家都知道了，迪斯尼更是“版权窃贼”。他们已经多次修改法律，把原本早就应该属于公共领域的东西，重新占为己有。他们再也不是那个神圣的知识产权卫道士了。

Larry Lessig的个人博客网站上继续增加着全世界媒体的相关报道：

Eldred, Eldred and More Eldred

Reason has a “conversation” with Mickey Mouse himself on the Eldred case — Mickey Mouse Clubbed: Disney’s cartoon rodent speaks out on the Eldred decision.
The ABA Journal eReport on the Eldred ruling: Long Life for Copyright

Renaissance Now: Save the Public Domain!

Erik Möller posts a thread to Kuro5hin: Renaissance Now: Save the Public Domain!. He announces the new Action Mailing List (and associated Wiki page), newsly created and devoted to the specific issue of international copyright term reform. Also of interest is the InfoAnarchy.org sponsored Mickey Mouse Release Day: “If not for the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, Mickey Mouse would be released into the public domain on April 15, 2003. On this day, we call for all websites to display Mickey’s likeness in protest.…”

And on a similar note, the Inquirer net.wars Column proclaims Of course, you know this means WAR and offers suggestions for “a campaign of civil disobedience.”

Yet More Eldred Case Coverage

Salon.com: After the copyright smackdown: What next? by Siva Vaidhyanathan.
BBC NEWS: Supreme Court protects US copyrights
Yahoo! News International Column: 0.2% For The Mouse!
The Nashua Telegraph: ‘Copyright will lose its meaning’ — includes interview with Eric Eldred
Glenn Reynolds: Copyrights and Creativity

C|Net News.com: Book publisher adopts open-source idea

C|Net News.com mentions the Creative Commons in Book publisher adopts open-source idea.

Eldred Coverage Continues…

O’Reilly Network: Eldred Opinion Met with Anger, Determination [Jan. 16, 2003]
USA Today [via Yahoo! News]: Justices defer to Congress’ power to extend copyright
freedomforum.org: Supreme Court downplays First Amendment argument in copyright ruling
WashingtonPost.com’s Summary of Eldred coverage: The Law vs. The Internet (TechNews.com)
Publishers Weekly Newswire: Court Copyright War Over, Mickey Wins
American Lawyer Media [via Law.com]: Supreme Court Upholds Copyright Extension
The Register: Supremes back Disney and pigopolists vs science and culture
LA Times [The Nation]: Justices OK Copyright Extension
LA Times [Local]: Disney Wins Big in Battle to Keep Company Icons

Some More on the Eldred Ruling

Declan McCullagh’s Politech: What Larry Did Get (just this once, mind you…)
The Washington Post’s transcription of a live conversation on Eldred withJonathan Zittrain, of Harvard Law School
NY Times Opinion column: The Coming of Copyright Perpetuity
Boston Globe Online: Justices uphold copyright extension
MPAA: Press Releases by Jack Valenti on the Ruling
NY Times News Analysis: A Corporate Victory, but One That Raises Public Consciousness
And once again, but with HTML format this time:
The Majority Opinion: [PDF] [HTML]
Stevens’ Dissent: [PDF] [HTML]
Breyer’s Dissent: [PDF] [HTML]
Everything on one big HTML page

More Coverage of the Eldred Ruling

SF Chronicle: Copyright extension is upheld / Supreme Court sides with firms on royalties
Wired News: Court Deaf to Public-Domain Pleas
SJ Mercury News: Supreme Court extends copyright protections
The Chronicle of Higher Education: Supreme Court Upholds Law Adding 20 Years to Copyrights
Declan McCullagh’s Politech: House Judiciary members applaud Supreme Court copyright ruling
Public Knowledge: Statement of Gigi B. Sohn, President, Public Knowledge On the Supreme Court Ruling in Eldred v. Ashcroft
Dan Gillmor’s eJournal: Supreme Court Endorses Copyright Theft [Revised from yesterday]
Los Angeles Times: Entertainment Industry Breathes Sigh of Relief Over Court Action

And once again, but with HTML format this time:
The Majority Opinion: [PDF] [HTML]
Stevens’ Dissent: [PDF] [HTML]
Breyer’s Dissent: [PDF] [HTML]

另一个著名法律博客网站COPYFIGHT在不断整理和总结各方的评说：

Passing Strange

The conversation about the Eldred decision takes a number of intriguing directions today--with the Volokh Conspiracy clearly the hub:

Orin Kerr, disagreeing with Glenn Reynolds’ take on the decision: "As I see it, cases like Lopez and Morrison are less about limited government than they are about limited federal government. It was clear in both Lopez and Morrison that the states could do what Congress tried to do: the question was whether the federal government could do it, too. Copyright law is different. The Copyright Act (specifically 17 U.S.C. 301(a)) explicitly preempts state copyright law schemes: the basic idea is that states aren’t allowed to enact their own copyright laws, because that’s a problem for Congress, not the states. As a result, the question in Eldred was not federal/state balance, but effectively whether any government at all was allowed to do what Congress did. I can imagine that made Eldred’s ’limited government’ argument sound more like Lochner than Lopez or Morrison."

GMU lawprof Eugene Kontorovich: "Like you [Eugene Volokh], I think Eldred was wrongly decided...But what’s interesting going forward is how the Court got to its decision--and this may explain why the conservative justice joined."

Jack Balkin, asking "Is the DMCA Unconstitutional under Eldred v. Ashcroft?": "As a lawyer and legal scholar, it’s my job, when confronted with decisions I don’t particularly agree with, to make lemonade out of lemons--to see how the court’s reasoning might apply to future cases in ways I do approve of. And after thinking about Eldred’s First Amendment analysis, it seems to me that the Supremes have made new law that puts the DMCA into question."

Robert Musil?via email; hyperlinks, mine):

I’m writing to note that the outcome in this case--especially the Court’s approach--is just not at all surprising. What is surprising is the amount of emotionalism and unrealistic expectations that this case has created in the opponents to the Bono Act (although I do not concur with one of your commenters that it is "knee jerk").

For example, anyone who thought that Justice Scalia would vote to overturn this act simply doesn’t understand what Scalia has been saying for the last 20 years or so. I posted on that point and predicted how Nino would vote--and it’s not rocket science. Professor Lessig’s musings about the "silent 5" is some measure of how far he let himself drift on this one.

Many other normally cogent commenters who became anti-Bono (Volokh, for example) went similarly way, way off course--and that’s especially inexcusable because Eugene knows Scalia personally from being a Court clerk. Glenn Reynolds’ musings on his new site are also of this nature--and that remains the case quite independently of what one thinks of the Court’s decision.

Strange, all of it, passing strange.

Meanwhile, it seems Larry is back on his feet:

[Short] of the impossible, there are many battles yet to be won. The opinion of the Court gives no support to restoring copyrights once expired. That means the challenges in Golan and related cases survives. And, as Jack Balkin forcefully argues, Eldred does nicely frame the unconstitutionality in the DMCA.

More importantly, there is a political campaign that must now be waged. The many organizations that have been fighting these issues have done an extraordinary job getting people to see what’s at stake. That battle has only begun. My hero Siva (which is easier to spell than Viadhyanathan [sic, of course]) has a great piece on Salon on just this point. And Bill Moyers has a piece on PBS tonight that will do lots to help others to see.

I, meanwhile, will be answering email. I should have that finished before the next Sonny Bono Act.

RE that Bill Moyers special tonight: PBS has an extra bit of interest to Copyfight readers: Tollbooths on the Digital Highway.

The Day After

Received an email just now from ILAW alum Sarah Lai Stirland, asking how the Berkman Center is dealing with the Eldred loss. Wrote Sarah (hyperlinks, mine):

Donna--

I know you’re busy, but when you get a chance--maybe you could blog it, I dunno--but what is the mood at Berkman/HLS like? I’m dying to know. How does everyone feel? Defeated? Depressed? Defiant? What’s going on?

Everyone had such high hopes. There was a feeling of it being a historic moment at the Public Knowledge party after the argument. It was an emotional moment for all.

Although others had said this could happen, I was quite stunned when the news broke. It’s like you know something might happen, but the scope of this is massive. I think the coverage in the NYTimes appropriately reflected this....

Honestly? The mood here is better than might be expected. As John Palfrey says, we’re committed to this fight on many fronts. This is a defeat, to be sure; yet we are undeniably pleased that this case is focusing attention on these issues.

The Washington Post has posted the transcript of an interview conducted today with Eldred co-counsel Jonathan Zittrain. Says JZ, among other things:

It’s not fun to lose a case that seems so obvious. But it’s apparently not obvious to seven justices--five of whom didn’t write any opinion in the matter. Now, with the Court having spoken, the dispute will have to focus within the public and political arenas. The case at least has caught the public eye, and my guess is that when Congress takes up yet another copyright-expanding piece of legislation (including, perhaps, a further term extension), it won’t be seen as obscure and unimportant, and unlike the Bono act, won’t sail through Congress without a single dissenting vote in either chamber.

That’s a start, I guess.

FYI, if you are just now tuning in: I will likely continue to gather links and reactions to the decision, below. If you’ve got something to say that you’d like to share, I’d like to hear it.