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Page Number: 24.0

20 

GOLAN v. HOLDER 

Opinion of the Court 

C 

Petitioners’ ultimate argument as to the  Copyright and
Patent  Clause  concerns  its  initial  words.    Congress  is
empowered to “promote the Progress of Science and useful 
Arts” by enacting systems of copyright and patent protec-
tion.  U. S. Const., Art. I, §8, cl. 8.  Perhaps counterintui-
tively  for  the  contemporary  reader,  Congress’  copyright
authority  is  tied  to  the  progress  of  science;  its  patent
authority, to the progress of the useful arts.  See Graham, 
383  U. S.,  at  5,  and  n. 1;  Evans,  8  F. Cas.,  at  873 
(Marshall, J.).

The  “Progress  of  Science,”  petitioners  acknowledge,
refers  broadly  to  “the  creation  and  spread  of  knowledge
and  learning.”    Brief  for  Petitioners  21;  accord  post,  at  1. 
They  nevertheless  argue  that  federal  legislation  cannot 
serve  the  Clause’s  aim  unless  the  legislation  “spur[s]  the 
creation of . . . new works.”  Brief for Petitioners 24; accord 
post, at 1–2, 8, 17.  Because §514 deals solely with works
already created, petitioners urge, it “provides no plausible
incentive  to  create  new  works”  and  is  therefore  invalid. 
Reply Brief 4.25 

The  creation  of  at  least  one  new  work,  however,  is  not 
the sole way Congress may promote knowledge and learn-
ing.  In Eldred,  we  rejected  an  argument  nearly  identical
to  the  one  petitioners  rehearse.    The  Eldred  petitioners
urged  that  the  “CTEA’s  extension  of  existing  copyrights 
categorically fails to ‘promote the Progress of Science,’ . . . 
because  it  does  not  stimulate  the  creation  of  new  works.” 
537  U. S.,  at  211–212.    In  response  to  this  argument,  we 

—————— 

25 But see Brief for Motion Picture Association of America as Amicus 
Curiae  27  (observing  that  income  from  existing  works  can  finance  the 
creation and publication of new works); Eldred, 537 U. S., at 208, n. 15 
(noting  that  Noah  Webster  “supported  his  entire  family  from  the
earnings  on  his  speller  and  grammar during  the  twenty  years  he  took 
to complete his dictionary” (internal quotation marks omitted)).