Editors of the Lawmeme blog who attended the Supreme Court Eldred hearing this morning have already blogged their first impressions of the arguments.
Justice Breyer was particularly hard on the government's position. He brought in a number of economic arguments. Basically, he made the point that the expected value of the extended copyright was so small as to be virtually zero. He also asked whether the governmen could recopyright Ben Johnson. The government did not say "no." Justice Stevens appeared skeptical of the government's arguments. The government made much of the inequities of not providing retroactive and prospective extension together. Scalia questioned whether the inequities argument could be turned around. J. Breyer, in essence, answered "yes" by claiming that existing copyright owners get all the benefit and, inequitably, prospective copyright owners get very little benefit.
I'm told that people started lining up for tickets to the Eldred hearing yesterday at suppertime; only 60 non-ticketed members of the public were admitted. Maybe they should move the Supreme Court to a football stadium.
(Thanks, Donna!)
