BOB GARFIELD: And now, an update. Last winter we spoke with Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig about the controversy around the Sonny Bono Copyright Protection Act, or as he referred to it, the Mickey Mouse Protection Act. Whatever you call it, the bill passed by Congress in 1998 extended copyright protection by 20 years. This week the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Bono Act ruling 7 to 2 that the act was perfectly constitutional and did not infringe upon freedom of speech. Free speech advocates and internet publishers are grumbling, but the big media companies that lobbied for the law like AOL Time Warner and Disney can rest secure in the knowledge that the Wizard of Oz and Mickey Mouse are protected for an extra 20 years.

GROUP OF CHILDREN: [SINGING] NOW IT'S TIME TO SAY GOODBYE TO ALL OUR COMPANY -- M I C --

MAN: See? Senate Bill 5 0 5! Public Law 348-298.

GROUP OF CHILDREN: K E Y --

MAN: Why? Because we'll sue you.

GROUP OF CHILDREN: M O U S--- EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

BOB GARFIELD: Coming up, Al Jazeera speaks English; the New York Times talks ethics; and Lawrence Tribe prepares for the Supreme Court by trying out his argument on Brooke!

BROOKE GLADSTONE: This is On the Media from NPR.