John D. Ashcroft
Respondent
Theodore B. Olson, Solicitor GeneralThe U.S. Congress passed its first copyright law in 1790, giving an author exclusive rights over a creative work for up to 28 years after its initial date of publication. Since then, Congress has extended the length of copyrights on multiple occasions, most recently in 1998, when the Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) provided for a term of 70 years after an author’s death (or 95 years from publication for works-for-hire). Reasons for the bill included increased life expectancy of authors and their heirs, as well as the desire to make U.S. copyright law more closely…
