Re: copyright expirations

On 3/10/98, Heather Peurano <hmp8[_at_]columbia.edu> wrote:
>
> If I understand correctly, the individual artist will not gain
> anything, because they are probably dead, if so, what sort of
> motivation does Congress have to extend these protections?

Copyrights of deceased authors are owned by corporations and survivors of authors. Naturally, these groups stand to gain much if part of their income stream is not cut off as copyrights expire. (Imagine if your parent and grandparent wrote a famous song and you were living off the royalties--the prospect of losing this income might not be pleasant).

The incentives go beyond U.S. borders, because international trade is at issue. Some other countries have longer terms than the U.S., and often extend "national treatment" (i.e., the same treatment they give their own nationals' works) to foreign works (to them, U.S. works are foreign); however, many follow the "rule of the shorter term," so that if a work has fallen into the public domain in its home country, it will be public domain in the foreign country as well. The U.S. was once a net importer of copyrighted works; now that it exports more IP, there is an incentive to make the term of protection long(er).

As to famous examples of works going public domain, none come immediately to mind, but Irving Berlin outlived some of his copyrights, and more of his work are probably entering the public domain every year. For post-1978 works by natural persons, it's impossible to outlive the copyright in one's work, because the term is measured by one's death.

S. Martin Keleti
COHEN AND COHEN
740 North La Brea Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038-3339
(213) 938-5000 (tel)
(213) 936-6354 (fax)
keleti[_at_]manifesto.com Received on Thu Mar 12 1998 - 04:09:22 GMT