Re: Copyright Extension Bill Passes Congress

Stephen Fishman <sfish55[_at_]yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> The bill extending the U.S. copyight terms by 20 years was passed by
> both the House and Senate on Oct. 7. It appears certain to become law
> now. This effectively freezes the public domian in the U.S. for the
> next 20 years.
>
> In my opinion this is a great tragedy for the American people in
> general and for writers, artists and other creative people in
> particular.

In my opinion, this is a victory for and a boon to American writers and artists, and other creative Americans, who should have learned in the sandbox that you may not use what isn't yours without asking.

I am generally a supporter of the little guy against big business, so it has surprised me and may interest the corporation-bashers on this list to learn that my Hitchcock project, which proposes to use clips and extracts from nearly sixty motion pictures, has received permission to do so, without fee, from major Hollywood studios and international entertainment corporations without a murmur. Amazing what you can get when you ask nicely.

Perhaps we have benefitted in part because we recognize the companies' right to charge for the use of their property should they so desire. On a sister project, it is only some individual artists (who presumably rely on reprint permissions for a useful contribution to their incomes) who have refused permission or insisted on more compensation than we could afford; we respect their right to do so and have adjusted our sights accordingly. So much for the stranglehold imposed on creativity by large corporations.

It's also good to know that we will benefit when our projects see the light of day, and others will have to ask us for permission to use our work. I trust we'll be as generous in granting it as we can afford to be.

On another front, I am pleased to learn that the Copyright Office is aware of the general discrepancy between the incomes of individual artists and of corporations, and is considering adjusting the fees for copyright registration accordingly.

Amy Stoller

ghoti
<redherring[_at_]tuna.net>
<:)))>><( Received on Fri Oct 09 1998 - 17:56:16 GMT