The proper scope of the copyright and patent power

In 1998, Congress passed the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, extending the duration of copyright protection from the life of the author plus fifty years to the life of the author plus seventy years. The constitutionality of this extension has been challenged on First Amendment and other grounds, In this Essay the authors argue that the language of Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 contains judicially enforceable limits on Congress's power to protect intellectual property and suggest that the 1998 Extension Act exceeds those limits.