Golan v. Holder
American Journal of International Law, Vol. 106, 2012
7 Pages Posted: 1 Nov 2015 Last revised: 3 Nov 2015
Date Written: 2012
Abstract
In Golan v. Holder, the U.S. Supreme Court held that section 514 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (Uruguay Round Act), which had been enacted to implement the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Convention), neither exceeds Congress’s authority under the Copyright Clause nor violates the First Amendment’s free speech guarantees. Golan v. Holder holds two noteworthy implications for American copyright law. First, it affirms the internationalization of this law after two centuries of either full (the first century) or partial (the second century) rejection of the rights of foreign creators. Second, it rejects a narrow, utilitarian understanding of incentives to create as the sole explanation for this law in favor of a broader account.
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