Supreme Court of the United States
Golan v. Holder
January 18, 2012132 S. Ct. 873
Summary
The Supreme Court held that Section 514 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, which restored copyright protection to certain foreign works previously in the U.S. public domain, does not exceed Congress' authority under the Copyright Clause and does not violate the First Amendment. The Court concluded that neither the Copyright Clause nor the First Amendment makes the public domain inviolable. Justice Breyer, dissenting, would have found the statute exceeded the Copyright Clause due to lack of incentive for new works.