During the past three decades, Congress has been busy tinkering with copyright law. For instance, it abolished the formalities once required for copyright protection. It greatly lengthened the term of copyright protection. It gave extra protections to digital works. It even restored copyright protection to some works that fell into the public domain.

Many of these changes are now under a legal cloud, thanks in part to the 10th Circuit’s Sept. 4 decision in Golan v. Gonzales.