As a legal challenge to the Sony Bono Copyright Extension Act (CTEA) ruling, Eric Eldred (internet publisher), represented by Lawrence Lessig, questioned the constitutionality of the imposed Act. In Eldred vs. Ashcroft, Eldred (lead petitioner), spoke on behalf of a growing community of people, who believed that continually extending copyright deadlines infringed upon the the Copyright Clause within the US Constitution, which essentially states that copyright can be applied works for a limited amount of time, not in perpetuity. Additionally, the Lessig argued that it violated First Amendment rights, and defied the doctrine of public trust- most often referred to in property/ environmental law, but in this case applied to art in the public property domain.. The Supreme Court heard the case in 2003 and found that the extension of copyright law did not apply to First Amendment or the public trust doctrine, additionally its ruling upheld previous Copyright Laws which enacted extensions, all of which could be enacted by Congress as long as the terms were limited and not endless.