In the last several weeks (2/2) (2/9) we've been discussing the United States copyright laws.under the terms of the Copyright Act of 1976, and the recent Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (or here in pdf form) which extends the copyright for all currently covered and future works for an additional 20 years.
Several days ago I received an email from Craig Pospisil of Dramatists Play Service in which he, I believe fairly, criticizes the slant of the previous articles in favor of those who oppose the extension. (What follows are excerpts from my response to him.)
I'm afraid that as a writer who might perhaps be affected by the loss of adaptable public domain material my enthusiasm may have been misdirected during the research and writing. Heck, a casual glance at the "New Plays" page of the DPS site reveals that maybe 10 percent of the plays might never have been permitted to be written if copyright had been extended backward a few years.
On the other hand, as a creator of original works I have little complaint about the idea of copyright in perpetuity. The idea of being able to pass on the copyrights as a legacy is indeed alluring -- and, financial concerns of heirs or assignees aside, perhaps most enticing of all is the thought of having someone well-versed in the wishes of the author maintaining the integrity of the work into the future.
Of greatest defense of the extension is the sense of needing to create parity with other copyright laws, specifically the international agreements adopted by representatives of the World Intellectual Property Organization. By failing to pass laws that match the terms of the WIPO agreement, American writers would find themselves in a situation where their works are being used as public domain materials while European authors still enjoyed copyright protection.
Oddly, in attempting to find a list of links in support of the extension I find that the opposition has been much more vocal (at least on the net) than its supporters. If you follow the links below you'll see that most of the pages focus more on the Sensenbrenner Amendment which was tacked on despite much recording industry protest; it exempts small restaurants, bars, and stores from music licensing fees for playing radio or TV music.
Here are some links to press releases from major US rights organizations regarding the copyright extension.
American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers' (ASCAP) take on the extension.
National Music Publishers' Association and The Harry Fox Agency's take(s).
The Recording Academy's Grammy site's take.
The Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) take and also here.
Here are some links to additional articles reporting on or explaining the new law.
An article by James Bates, highlighting the value of extension to authors and other copyright owners (plus some discussion of the other bonuses offered by the law), appears at Hollywood Online.
Reuters story on the EU copyright changes at Wired
AP story on the involvement of Disney and the MPAA at Fox News
Another AP story explaining the bill at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Reprint of a New York Times article by Dinitia Smith (at the Opposing Copyright Extension site)
An article about the dispute (by Laura Plaza), with more of a legal viewpoint, can be found at the Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review.
At Cornell's Legal Information Institute, you'll find the complete copyright code conveniently hyperlinked.
Center for Responsive Politics page about the money involved with the passage of the bill.
Those seriously interested in the discussion of copyright are advised to subscribe to the Coalition for Networked Information's CNI-COPYRIGHT forum. According to the "About..." page, "this list is being organized to give those who ask, answer, and discuss copyright questions of any type a forum for discussion. Discussion will not be limited to any one area such as copyright for electronic materials." The coalition "provides focus and resources which are crucial to the ability of the Coalition to articulate and share visions of how information management must change in the 1990s to meet the social and economic opportunities and challenges of the 21st century."
The Public Domain Information Project is "a non-profit corporation organized to help the ordinary person identify and access music in the public domain."
Under pressure from the National Music Publishers' Association, Inc. and its subsidiary, The Harry Fox Agency, Swiss authorities and police shut down the International Lyrics Server and seized its computers for alleged copyright violations. Here's a New York Times report on the incident. In a Suite101.com Theatre article entitled "Dee dee dah Dum" we highly praised the site for its value to scholars, researchers, and students of lyric writing. Please think about signing their petition in defense of fair use of copyrighted material.
C U @ the Theatre!
Originally published at Suite101.com Theatre, 2/16/99
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