[sellandb]

The article doesn't talk about a personal judgement of artistic merit, but rather a previous court ruling (“Early Circuit law in California held that obscene works did not promote the progress of science and the useful arts, and thus cannot be protected by copyright.”). Now perhaps that court ruling isn't that much different, but your comment implies a personal judgement of value enabling copyright infringement.

[jevinskie]

Doesn't any definition of "obscene" inherently contain a personal judgement?

[sellandb]

Coming from a single person certainly. Coming from a court though, it would imply the court's judgement which would seem a little bit different.