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Page Number: 20.0

16 

GOLAN v. HOLDER 

Opinion of the Court 

guishes  their  suit  from  Eldred’s.  In  adopting  the  CTEA,
petitioners note, Congress acted in accord with “an unbro-
ken  congressional  practice”  of  granting  pre-expiration 
term  extensions,  537  U. S.,  at  200.    No  comparable  prac-
tice, they maintain, supports §514.

On  occasion,  however,  Congress  has  seen  fit  to  protect 
works once freely available.  Notably, the Copyright Act of
1790  granted  protection  to  many  works  previously  in  the
public domain.  Act of May 31, 1790 (1790 Act), §1, 1 Stat.
124  (covering  “any  map,  chart,  book,  or  books  already 
printed  within  these  United  States”).    Before  the  Act 
launched a uniform national system, three States provided
no  statutory  copyright  protection  at  all.17   Of  those  that 
did afford some protection, seven failed to protect maps;18 
eight  did  not  cover  previously  published  books;19  and  all 
ten  denied  protection  to  works  that  failed  to  comply  with
formalities.20  The First Congress, it thus appears, did not 
view  the  public  domain  as  inviolate.    As  we  have  recog-
nized,  the  “construction  placed  upon  the  Constitution  by
[the  drafters  of]  the  first  [copyright]  act  of  1790  and  the
act  of  1802  . . .  men  who  were  contemporary  with  [the
Constitution’s] formation, many of whom were members of 
the convention which framed it, is of itself entitled to very 
great  weight.”    Burrow-Giles  Lithographic  Co.  v.  Sarony, 

—————— 

17 See  B.  Bugbee,  Genesis  of  American  Patent  and  Copyright  Law 
123–124  (1967)  (hereinafter  Bugbee)  (Delaware,  Maryland,  and 
Pennsylvania). 

18 See 1783 Mass. Acts p. 236; 1783 N. J. Laws p. 47; 1783 N. H. Laws
p. 521; 1783 R. I. Laws pp. 6–7; 1784 S. C. Acts p. 49; 1785 Va. Acts ch. 
VI; 1786 N. Y. Laws p. 298. 

19 1783  Conn.  Pub.  Acts  no.  617;  1783  N.  J.  Laws  p.  47;  1785  N. C. 
Laws p. 563; 1786 Ga. Laws p. 323.  In four States, copyright enforce-
ment  was  restricted  to  works  “not  yet  printed”  or  “hereinafter  pub-
lished.”    1783  Mass.  Acts  p.  236;  1783  N.  H.  Laws  p.  521;  1783  R.  I.
Laws pp. 6–7; 1784 S. C. Acts p. 49. 

20 See Bugbee 109–123.