Golan v. Holder

Disclosure: Goldstein & Russell, P.C. serves as counsel to the petitioners in this case.

Holding: Section 514 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act does not exceed Congress’s authority under the Copy­right Clause.

Judgment: Affirmed, 6-2, in an opinion by Justice Ginsburg on January 18, 2012. Justice Breyer filed a dissenting opinion, which was joined by Justice Alito. Justice Kagan did not take part in the consideration or decision of the case.

SCOTUSblog Coverage

• Opinion recap: The public domain shrinks (Lyle Denniston)
• Argument recap: The constitutionality of zombie copyrights (Rebecca Tushnet)
• Francis Scott Key* v. James Marshall Hendrix? (Marty Lederman)
• Argument preview: Copyright and the public domain (Lyle Denniston)
• Academic round-up (Amanda Frost)
• A major test of copyright power (Lyle Denniston)

Briefs and Documents

Merits Briefs for the Petitioners

• Brief for  Lawrence Golan et al.
• Reply for Lawrence Golan et al.

Amicus Briefs in Support of the Petitioners

• Brief for the American Library Association et al.
• Brief for the CATO Institute
• Brief for the Conductors Guild and the Music Library Association
• Brief for the Eagle Forum Education and Legal Defense Fund
• Brief for Google, Inc.,
• Brief for H. Tomas Gomez-Arostegui and Tyler T. Ochoa
• Brief for the Heartland Angels, Inc.,
• Brief for the Justice and Freedom Fund
• Brief for Peter Decherney
• Brief for Professor Daniel J. Gervais
• Brief for Public Domain Interest
• Brief for the ACLU
• Brief for the Information Society Project at Yale
• Brief for Creative Commons
• Brief for Public Knowledge
• Brief for Project Petrucci

Merits Briefs for the Respondent

• Brief for  the United States

Amicus Briefs in Support of the Respondent

• Brief for the American Bar Association
• Brief for the American Intellectual Property Law Association
• Brief for the American Society of Composers et  al.
• Brief for the Intellectual Property Owners Asociatiation
• Brief for the International Publishers Association et al.
• Brief for the International Coalition for Copyright Protection
• Brief for the Franklin Pierce Center for Intellectual Property
• Brief for the Motion Picture Association of America

Certiorari-stage documents

• Opinion below (10th Cir.)

• Petition for certiorari (unavailable)
• Brief in opposition (unavailable)
• Petitioners’ reply
• Amicus brief on behalf of Internet Archive (unavialalbe)
• Amicus brief of the Conductors Guild (unavailable)