RE: The good fight

On Tuesday, October 22, 2002 4:43 PM, Susan Aker [SMTP:susan[_at_]the-lanman.com] wrote:
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> I am not necessarily supporting sterling's opinions in this matter, but I
> have heard a lot of people defend the Berne convention on Economic terms,
> how it aids the U.S. economy to be compliant with Berne. However, I have
> never seen anyone post factual numbers on how many valuable U.S. exports
of
> IP are older than the 56 years protected by the 1909 copyright. Are not
> most U.S. exports to the world actually less than a year old?
>
> Whenever I hear about complaints from the entertainment industry about
> piracy, they aren't complaining about someone offering the sheet music to
> George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue or even a download MPEG of Gone With
the
> Wind. They are saying that people are downloading a ovie before it even
> hits the theatre. Most works from even 5 years ago are already off the
> radar, and after 56 years, only the ones that earned the distinction of
> being among the 'Classics' can even be found.
>
> Not being a member of Berne would change very little, economically or
> otherwise, and a return to a truly limited copyright, based on time, not
> lifespan, would allow modern creators a far greater pool of resources
from
> which to draw in order to create new works.
>

I don't want to flog a dead horse more than it needs, but again, I think that Ms Aker misses the point of my objection to her suggestion that the USA should abrogate Berne.

It is NOT about copyright duration, but about the USA's position in the world. I fully accept that there is a valid case to be made against longer copyright terms. The case is just as valid in the UK, or in France, or Japan, as it is in the USA. Let it be made globally, and in alliance with those of the same persuasion in these other countries. Abrogation of Berne is an isolationist position and I have yet to hear a valid case for US isolation.

Edward Barrow
New Media Copyright Consultant
http://www.copyweb.co.uk/
***Important: see http://www.copyweb.co.uk/email.htm for information about the legal status of this email *** Received on Wed Oct 23 2002 - 13:03:45 GMT