Isabella Carter
Copyrights are included in the US Constitution under Article I, Section 8, Clause 8, also known as the Intellectual Property Clause, Copyright and Patent Clause, or the Progress Clause. The clause was unanimously agreed upon by the members of the Convention on September 17, 1787, and was included in the Constitution to promote innovation and the arts. It grants Congress the power to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries. This clause is the basis of copyright and patent laws in the United States, with copyrights providing exclusive rights over a writing or invention for a limited time, after which the work enters the public domain.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Reason for including copyright in the US Constitution | To promote innovation and the arts |
| Date of proposal for the inclusion of copyright in the US Constitution | August 18, 1787 |
| Date of unanimous agreement on the proposal | September 17, 1787 |
| Name of the clause in the US Constitution that includes copyright | Intellectual Property Clause, Copyright and Patent Clause, or the Progress Clause |
| Section of the US Constitution that includes copyright | Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 |
| Purpose of the clause | To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries |
| Date of the first federal copyright law | May 31, 1790 |
| Name of the first federal copyright law | The Copyright Act of 1790 |
| Date of the first work registered under the first federal copyright law | June 9, 1790 |
| Name of the first work registered under the first federal copyright law | The Philadelphia Spelling Book |
| Date of the basic framework for the current US copyright law | October 19, 1976 |
| Name of the basic framework for the current US copyright law | The Copyright Act of 1976 |
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What You'll Learn
- The US Constitution grants Congress the power to legislate in the area of intellectual property
- The Copyright Clause is also known as the Intellectual Property Clause
- The Copyright Act of 1790 was the first federal copyright law
- The IP Clause gives Congress the power to grant exclusive rights for a limited time
- The Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that repeated extensions to copyright terms do not constitute perpetual copyright
The US Constitution grants Congress the power to legislate in the area of intellectual property
The clause states that Congress has the power:
> To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.
The clause was included in the Constitution to facilitate a uniform, national law governing patents and copyrights. Under the Articles of Confederation, creators had to obtain copyrights and patents in multiple states under different standards, a difficult and expensive process that undermined the purpose and effectiveness of the legal regime. The Intellectual Property Clause was intended to promote national uniformity in the realm of intellectual property and give Congress the power to grant exclusive rights over writings and inventions for a limited time.
The utilitarian aim of the clause is to maximize scientific and artistic progress by balancing the incentives for innovation with the potential chilling effects of limiting access to writings and discoveries. The clause promotes this progress by extending to patent and copyright owners the right to exclude others for a limited time, providing an incentive for inventors, entrepreneurs, and corporations to engage in research and development. This, in turn, can have a positive effect on society through the introduction of new products, processes, and treatments.
The specific terms "science" and "useful arts" in the clause have evolved in meaning over time and do not carry the same meaning as they did when the clause was written. Today, "science" refers to the protection of copyrightable subject matter, while "useful arts" refers to the protection of patentable inventions.
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The Copyright Clause is also known as the Intellectual Property Clause
The founding fathers of the United States deemed intellectual property rights to be of utmost importance to the success and stability of the country. This is why the Copyright Clause, also known as the Intellectual Property Clause, was included in the US Constitution.
The Copyright Clause, or Intellectual Property Clause, is an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 8). It is the basis of copyright and patent laws in the United States. The clause grants Congress the power to promote progress in science and the useful arts by securing, for limited times, the exclusive rights of authors and inventors to their respective writings and discoveries.
The clause was interpreted as two distinct powers: the power to secure, for a limited time, the exclusive right of authors to their writings, which is the basis of US copyright law; and the power to secure, for a limited time, the exclusive rights of inventors to their discoveries, which is the basis of US patent law. The terms of the clause are limited in duration, and perpetual copyrights and patents are prohibited.
The utilitarian aim of the Intellectual Property Clause is to maximise scientific and artistic progress. It does this by balancing the incentives it provides for innovation with the potential negative impact on novel thought that restricted access to writings and discoveries may have. The IP Clause includes two limitations on Congress's ability to protect intellectual property. Firstly, Congress can only grant exclusive rights over a writing or invention for a limited time, after which the public may access it without restriction. Secondly, exclusive rights can only be granted to promote the progress of science and useful arts. This prevents overly broad or useless ideas from being patented.
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The Copyright Act of 1790 was the first federal copyright law
The 1790 Act granted copyright for a term of "fourteen years from the time of recording the title thereof", with one optional renewal. It applied to books, maps, and charts, and while musical compositions were not explicitly mentioned, they were routinely registered as "books". The Act also did not cover paintings or drawings, which were later included under the Copyright Act of 1870. It is important to note that the Copyright Act of 1790 only applied to citizens of the United States, and works by non-US citizens were not copyrightable in the US until the International Copyright Act of 1891.
The Act provided that the author or authors of any map, chart, or book already printed within the United States, being a citizen or resident thereof, who had not transferred the copyright to another person, would have the "sole right and liberty" of printing, reprinting, publishing, and vending such works for the term of fourteen years from the recording of the title. This exclusivity was enforced, and any person who printed, reprinted, published, or imported copies of such works without the author's consent was subject to penalties.
The Copyright Act of 1790 was based on the British Statute of Anne, with the first sentences of the two laws being almost identical. Both laws required registration for copyright protection and the deposit of copies of the work in designated repositories. The 1790 Act provided an initial term of 14 years, renewable once by living authors for an additional 14 years, for works not yet published. For works already published, it offered a 14-year term, while the Statute of Anne provided a 21-year term without the option for renewal.
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The IP Clause gives Congress the power to grant exclusive rights for a limited time
The US Constitution grants Congress the power to legislate in the area of intellectual property, with the aim of promoting innovation and the arts. This power is derived from Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the US Constitution, also known as the Intellectual Property Clause, the Copyright and Patent Clause, or simply the Copyright Clause or Patent Clause.
The clause gives Congress the power to "promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries". This means that Congress can grant exclusive rights to authors and inventors, but only for a limited time. After this time period, the public can access the intellectual property without restriction.
The inclusion of the IP Clause in the Constitution was deemed necessary by the founding fathers to ensure the success and stability of the new country. The utilitarian aim of the clause is to maximise scientific and artistic progress by balancing the incentives for innovation with the potential negative effects of limiting access to writings and discoveries on novel thought.
The exact duration of the "limited times" mentioned in the clause is not specified, and courts have generally been deferential to Congress on this matter. For example, the First Copyright Act lasted only 14 years, but the Copyright Extension Act of 1998 extended an author's copyright to their lifetime plus 70 years. The Supreme Court has ruled that repeated extensions to the term of copyright do not constitute a perpetual copyright, as this would violate the limited times language of the clause.
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The Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that repeated extensions to copyright terms do not constitute perpetual copyright
Copyrights are included in the US Constitution to promote innovation and the arts. The framers of the Constitution unanimously agreed that copyright should be included within the federal sphere. The Copyright Clause, also known as the Intellectual Property Clause, Copyright and Patent Clause, or the Progress Clause, grants Congress the power to "promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries".
The Supreme Court ruled in 2003, in Eldred v. Ashcroft, that repeated extensions to copyright terms do not constitute perpetual copyright. The United States Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, also known as the "Mickey Mouse Protection Act". The petitioners in the case argued that successive retroactive extensions of copyright were functionally unlimited and hence violated the limited times stated in the clause. However, Justice Ginsburg, writing for the Court, rejected this argument, reasoning that the terms provided by the Act were limited in duration and that Congress had a history of granting retroactive extensions. The Court also noted that the extensions "were all temporary placeholders subsumed into the systemic changes effected by the 1976 Act", and as a result, the works entered the public domain on January 1, 75 years after their publication.
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Frequently asked questions
The basis of copyright law in the US is the Copyright Clause, also known as the Intellectual Property Clause, in Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the US Constitution.
The clause states that Congress shall have the power to "promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries".
The term "useful arts" refers to the protection of patentable inventions. In eighteenth-century usage, it referred to the work of artisans, or people skilled in a manufacturing craft.
The language of the clause was agreed upon unanimously on September 17, 1787, and was based on a proposal by James Madison, who had previously served on a committee of Congress that encouraged individual states to adopt copyright legislation.
The US Constitution grants Congress the power to legislate in the area of intellectual property to promote innovation and the arts. The founding fathers deemed intellectual property rights important to the success and stability of the country.
