Eldred v. Ashcroft is a landmark 2003 Supreme Court case that upheld the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, extending copyright protections by 20 years and keeping works like Mickey Mouse out of the public domain. The decision reversed decades of copyright expiration and shaped ongoing debates about intellectual property, fair use, and what enters public domain.
·Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that extending copyright terms does not violate the First Amendment
·Decision kept millions of works from entering public domain, including early Disney characters
·Case challenged the constitutionality of retroactive copyright extensions on existing works
·Sparked continued legal battles over public domain access and fair use rights
·Created framework later applied in cases like Golan v. Holder testing copyright scope
drawn from Free Speech Center, The Federalist Society, Duke University School of Law, SCOTUSblog · updated 1069d ago