H.R.989 & S.483, Copyright Extension

     The House version of the copyright extension legislation, H.R. 989, appears temporarily stalled because of a tactical effort by Representative Sensenbrenner to force some relief for retailers beyond what section 110(5) permits them to play off the air in their business establishments. Perhaps in an effort to make an end run around the House difficulties, Senator Hatch suddenly held Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on S.483 on September 20. Almost no warning of these hearings was given, and only Peter Jaszi of American University was invited to testify in opposition, among a much larger number of supporters.

     Organized opposition to the extension remains scattered and weak. If anything is to be done to stop this legislative steamroller, grass roots action by many will be necessary. I therefore urge subscribers to this list to make their views known to members of Congress. I attach the names and addresses of members of the Senate Judiciary Committee below.

     The pro-extension point now being most strongly pressed is the supposed international benefits of extending. (The
"increased incentive" argument is incredible on its face, and the
"two generations of descendants" argument is getting primarily
only lip service.) The claim is that U.S. copyright owners will miss out on a European windfall of royalties for the "extra" 20 years unless we also extend our terms.

     I think this claim is easily refuted or at least called into question until more information is available. This bill is NOT the "no lose" proposition that the special interests who are supporting it have claimed. It imposes a serious direct financial cost on the American public and represents an even more serious hindrance to the creation of new works necessary to maintain the United States leadership in international intellectual property exchanges.

     Claims like those made by Jack Valenti at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings should be scrutinized very carefully. He stated that our copyright industries do about $45 billion in business each year abroad, a figure that I will assume is correct. What that figure does NOT say is how much of that $45 billion is from current works, like "The Lion King" and Microsoft operating software, which in any event have some 75 years of copyright protection before them, and how much is from works from the 1920's that, absent extension, are due to enter the public domain in the next few years. Nobody has presented evidence of which I am aware showing that international trade in works from the early decades of this century favors the United States or, even if it does, that it represents more than an infinitesimal fraction of our overall trade in copyright-protected works. Yet these old works are the real subject of the bill: As I've shown in earlier postings, the present value of a speculative sum so far in the future is virtually zero, so the extension cannot have anything but a negative effect on the production of current works.

     In order to obtain revenues from Europe for U.S. copyright owners of old works--the great tree of money that is supposedly just waiting to be picked--the supporters of the extension have not pointed out that the U.S. public will have to pay as well. It stands to reason that U.S. consumers are greater users of U.S. works than European consumers, so for every "extra" royalty U.S. copyright owners receive from Europe as a result of the extension, some MULTIPLE of that will also be paid by Americans. Moreover, American users will have to continue paying for the use of European works for the additional 20 years. Congress should at least do a study to determine just how great these costs will be before rushing forward to impose them on the American public. Don't forget that the copyright owners on these old works have already been collecting royalty payments for a full 75 years. That's long enough for a fair return from their social contribution!

     Now is the time for action!

Dennis S. Karjala
Professor of Law
Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona 85287
602-965-4010
602-965-2427 (fax)
dennis.karjala[_at_]asu.edu

                              Senate Judiciary Committee

Republicans

Spencer Abraham (R Mich)
245 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-4822
michigan[_at_]abraham.senate.gov

Henry Brown (R Colo)
716 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-5941
senator_brown[_at_]brown.senate.gov

Michael DeWine (R Ohio)
140 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-2315
senator_dewine[_at_]dewine.senate.gov

Charles E. Grassley (R Iowa)
135 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-3744
chuck_grassley[_at_]grassley.senate.gov

Jon Kyl (R Ariz)
702 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-4521
info[_at_]kyl.senate.gov

Alan K. Simpson (R Wyo)
105 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-3424
senator[_at_]simpson.senate.gov

Arlen Specter (R Pa)
530 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-4254

Fred Thompson (R Tenn)
523 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-4944

Strom Thurmond (R SC)
217 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-5972

Democrats

Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D Del)
221 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-5042

Russell Feingold (D Wisc)
502 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-5323
senator_feingold[_at_]feingold.senate.gov

Dianne Feinstein (D Cal)
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-3841
senator[_at_]feinstein.senate.gov

Howell T. Heflin (D Ala)
728 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-4124

Edward M. Kennedy (D Mass)
315 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-4543
senator[_at_]kennedy.senate.gov

Herbert H. Kohl
330 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-5653
senator_kohl[_at_]kohl.senate.gov

Patrick J. Leahy (D Vt)
433 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-4242
senator_leahy[_at_]leahy.senate.gov Received on Fri Oct 06 1995 - 18:28:15 GMT