Copyright extension: Eldred v. Ashcroft

In recent years the US Congress has expanded both the scope and duration of copyright law. For example, the United States now recognizes copyrights in sound recordings, computer software, and (since 1990) the moral rights of a visual artist, such as the right to be identified as the author and the right against destruction of a work. Four years ago, the Sonny Bono Act (more formally known as the Copyright Term Extension Act) added 20 years to the duration of both new and existing copyrights. For those building information systems, the expansion of the material protected by intellectual property laws adds significant difficulty in obtaining permissions to use material for online delivery. Despite the flurry of activity during the dot-com era, we have not reached a consensus on a model for selling protected information.