SCOTUS: Public Domain? ... NAAAAH.

[Foxboy]

Essentially the SCOTUS bent over and said Congress can screw us from the IP that's in the public domain.
That said, Hey, Congresscritter? I'd like the rights to the Bible. All Languages.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Jorlem]

While I do disagree with this, I can see where they are coming from, in attempting to move towards a system that limits shenanigans with situations where things that are copyrighted in country A are public domain in country B, making it far cheaper and easier to produce copies in country B than A. The potential side effects of saying that IP can be moved from the public domain back into copyright though? Urgh.
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Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.

[LynnInDenver]

I do expect companies to try to stretch this ruling to allow them to claim that a public domain work is now entirely theirs. Disney making claim to all the fairy tales they've done movies of? I wouldn't put it past them.

OK, yes, I'm cynical, and jaded, and perhaps getting just a little zealous because of things like SOPA and PIPA.
--

"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor

[Bob Schroeck]

Geeze. Over a decade ago a columnist in -- ah, can't remember, either Infoworld or PC Magazine (if the latter, it might have been Dvorak) -- wrote a satire piece about changes in copyright law allowing companies to "adopt" orphan IP in order to give it a "proper custodian", and highlighting the reassignment of Shakespeare's plays to a media firm that could properly "care for" them -- by licensing them for every low-class moneymaking scheme it could. The column was supposed to be over-the-top satire. Looks like it's now tomorrow's news.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Black Aeronaut]

... Does anyone happen to remember what checks the Judiciary Branch has going against it?

[Jorlem]

Umm... I think the Legislature can impeach them, maybe, and they can pass laws overruling the precedents that the Judicial branch sets. Most of the checks on the Judicial branch seem to be about deciding who gets in. Other then that, they have to follow what the Constitution says (or what they interpret it to say), while the other branches can decide to change what the constitution says via amendments. That is to say, they cannot make the laws, they can only interpret and apply them.

Oh, and I think that they can revisit past cases, if they realize that they had made a mistake.
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Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.