"Kramer, what's the date on that milk?"

InPrecisely Second Friday = Precisely 200 Words

Some things in life expire organically – like milk or lettuce.

Some expirations have soft landings – like a handsome actor dumping Jennifer Anniston.

Some expirations are abrupt – like hotel keys after noon.

Some expirations manifest even in advance of their deadlines – like passports.

The Limited Times Clause ensures abrupt expirations.

Patents expire twenty years after filing.

Copyrights expire seventy years after the author’s death (plus the rest of that seventieth year).

But unlike expired milk, patent and copyright expirations open a new carton of rights for everyone.

For over 200 years, the Limited Times Clause has worked as an economic engine, incentivizing disclosures by minting limited monopolies.

And those monopoly-protected disclosures – look but don’t touch – benefit society as we absorb their attributes.

Then at expiration the old has passed away and – behold – the new has come.

Everyone has a right to copy – to “slavishly copy” – the expired patent and the expired copyrightable work.

Indeed, no contract can say otherwise.

Even if you agree to pay a license fee beyond expiration, no Court can enforce that promise – as a public policy.

That public policy is so strong because the Limited Times Clause is so clear.

Expiration has consequences – just like with milk.