Re: copyright expirations

Heather Marie Peurano <hmp8[_at_]columbia.edu> wrote:
>
> What are the potential losses to the public if Congress extends
> copyrights for another 20 years? 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?

The more cynical among us would suggest that Congress is motivated by the steady stream of campaign contributions from those who are poised to most profit from this issue: movie studios, publishers, and other content providers with valuable works from the late 1920s and 1930s. The public debate, however, has focused on misappropriation-type arguments for protecting the stream of royalties that is being received by the heirs of the artists who created the works, along with misleading arguments concerning international protection and harmonization.

Tyler T. Ochoa
Associate Professor
Whittier Law School
tochoa[_at_]law.whittier.edu Received on Thu Mar 12 1998 - 23:36:38 GMT