ABSTRACT
After laying an historical foundation of the concept of “promonopoly” legislation in the face of a U. S. public policy devoted, since 1890, to a generally antimonopoly position, this paper examines the relevance of recent changes in the three types of domestic promonopoly law: patent law, copyright law, and trademark law. During the last thirty years of the twentieth century, and especially during the last decade of that period, all three aspects of American promonopoly legislation were strengthened. The term of copyright was extended from a maximum of fifty-six years to the lifetime of the last-living author of a work plus seventy years and coverage was broadened to extend to recordings–by a number of means–of performances; patents were lengthened in duration from seventeen years to twenty; and the law of trademarks was modified to include protection for trademark holders against “dilution,” or loss of 138value of trademarks due to the acts of noncompetitors. The implications and rationales of these changes are examined in the context of their effect on business life at the beginning of the third millennium. While it is too soon since the majority of these changes in law went into effect to draw definitive conclusions concerning their ultimate consequences, it does appear that, in general, their thrust is to increase the value of intellectual property to its proprietors. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: <docdelivery@haworthpress.com> Website: <https://www.HaworthPress.com> © 2005 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]
