Dissenting Opinion on Harper & Roe V. the Nation

Dissenting Opinion on Harper & Roe V. the Nation

{draw:frame} HARPER & ROW PUBLISHERS, INC., ET AL v. NATION ENTERPRISES ET AL. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES May 20, 1985, Decided Dissenting Opinion: I find fault in the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in finding Nation Enterprises guilty of copyright infringement. Though I find Nation Enterprises not guilty I do not agree with the way in which the Court Of Appeals reached its not guilty verdict. I will lay my argument out based on the four factors that Congress has expressed to be the major factors separating rights of free speech and of rights to copyright protection. Before I do that I will argue why the definition of a public figure must be adapted to ensure and promote the health of our democratic government. I The Supreme Court argued that by finding Nation Enterprises not guilty they “would expand fair use to effectively destroy any expectation of copyright protection in the work of a public figure.” This is true and effectively explains why a distinction between a public figure based on celebrity status and a public figure who is, or has been employed by the United States government and therefore the citizens of the United States of America is proper and necessary. The actions and thoughts of government officials, especially while under contract with the American people, must lose certain rights in order to protect the common good of the citizens of this country. They have applied and been hired by the American people and with that comes certain responsibilities. It is in the American people’s interest to hear the explanation of the Nixon pardon and that, whether recorded in a conversation or read from a misplaced memo, is public domain because of the news reporting purpose of the work. Also, politicians, unlike public figures in general, have made a choice to live a life of scrutiny and immediately give up such protections that allow the press and media to speak freely about the lives of these people. Grouping...

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