Quote:
Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
Atticus -- it is too a Constitutional right, implemented by statute.
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You're saying some court has held that Article I, Section 8 does not confer a power on Congress, but rather a mandatory duty to protect intellectual property? That Article I confers individual rights? You may be right, but if so, I'm surprised.
Maybe a court has said this, but if so they're insane. IP was a matter of common law; by its language Article I vests supremacy on the issue in Congress rather than the states and does not confer substantive rights in individuals to compel Congress to have any particular Enumerated Power legislation enacted. Does Congress have a mandatory duty "To borrow money on the credit of the United States"? "To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises"? "To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court"?
Patent and copyright law seems to me to be an area of federal law created by the Constitution, but that doesn't mean it's a constitutional right. Did the SCOTUS say so in the challenge to the extension of copyrights act? If so, I think they're dead and dangerously wrong.
