Re: News Flash

[Miles Fidelman <mfidelman@meetinghouse.net>]

Paul Johnson wrote:
> Roberto C. Sanchez wrote:
>   
> > On Fri, Feb 09, 2007 at 04:44:04PM -0500, Miles Fidelman wrote:
> >     
> > > Article I, Section 8.
> > >
> > > The actual language in the constitution states that "The 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;"
> > >
> > > Note the word "limited."
> > >
> > >       
> > Arguably, since corporations are legal *persons* but have a potentially
> > indefinite lifespan, 125 years (or life + 50 years) *is* a limited time.
> >     
>
> I would argue that this violates the spirit of what the framers of the
> constitution intended given copyright lengths in England of the same era as
> the constitution's writing.
>   
Good point - especially since, in those days, corporate charters were 
difficult to come  by and typically had limited lifetimes.  The American 
Revolution was as much a revolution against corporations (e.g., the 
British East India Company) as against the British Crown.