Cite as: 533 U. S. 483 (2001)
Stevens, J., dissenting
Frankel, H. Sidey), White House Historical Association (Nov. 16, 2000) (C-SPAN Archives No. 160577) (quoted in Brief for Ken Burns et al. as Amici Curiae 17).
Users like Douglas Brinkley do not go to NEXIS because it contains a score of individual articles by Jonathan Tasini.20
Rather, they go to NEXIS because it contains a comprehensive and easily searchable collection of (intact) periodicals.
20 Even assuming, as the majority does, see ante, at 497-498, n. 6, that the existence of databases like NEXIS may have some adverse effect on the market for stand-alone compilations of authors' contributions to collective works, I fail to see how, on that basis, electronic databases are any different from microform. With respect to effects on the market for stand-alone works, the only difference between the two products is the speed with which digital technology allows NEXIS users to retrieve the desired data. But the 1976 Act was not intended to bar the use of every conceivable innovation in technology that might " 'giv[e] publishers [new] opportunities to exploit authors' works.' " Ante, at 498, n. 6. Copyright law is not an insurance policy for authors, but a carefully struck balance between the need to create incentives for authorship and the interests of society in the broad accessibility of ideas. See U. S. Const., Art. I, § 8, cl. 8 (in order to promote production, Congress should allow authors and inventors to enjoy "exclusive Right[s]," but only "for limited Times" (emphasis added)); see also supra, at 519-520. The majority's focus on authorial incentive comes at the expense of the equally important (at least from the perspective of copyright policy) public interest.
Moreover, the majority's single-minded focus on "authorial rights" appears to lead it to believe that, because some authors may benefit from its decision, that decision must be the one intended by Congress. It cites the " 'economic philosophy behind the [Copyright Clause]' " as consistent with its view that Congress adjusted "the author/publisher balance" precisely to avoid the types of uses embodied in the Electronic Databases. See ante, at 495, n. 3. But, as I have already argued, see supra, at 519, there is no indication that Congress ever considered the issue presented in this case. It thus simply begs the question for the majority to argue that the right not to have a work included within the Electronic Databases is an "authorial right" that "Congress [has] established," ante, at 506 (emphasis added), or that—given Congress' failure clearly to address itself to the question—a decision allowing such inclusion would amount to "diminish[ing]" authorial "rights" on the basis of "our conception of their interests," ante, at 498, n. 6 (emphasis added).
523
Page: Index Previous 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007