Copyright term, film labeling, and film preservation legislation : hearings before the Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fourth Congress, first session, on H.R. 989, H.R. 1248, and H.R. 1734 ... June 1 and July 13, 1995 (1996)

93 And so I would urge you, because I will be active in that area, to let the songwriter have a say so. That has occurred with me several times and there was nothing I could do about it. On the Mr. Murphy. Mr. Bono, I would be happy to talk to you and give you or any songwriter any advice that I can. Our organization stands ready to help songwriters in this area and would be happy to do this, and we do. That is what our organization does. And we would be pleased to review that. Mr. Bono. I hope, again, if we are going to go with legislation, that we recognize the creator of the product. It is kind of like a painting belongs to the painter, but the song gets taken away from the writer. And I think it is inverted in some degree. So I think that equity should be worked out. As far as archives are concerned, wherever the Government contribution is, is that public domain or is that for personal use? I mean, does it belong to a movie company? Does it belong to a private company or is it all public domain? Mr. Richmond. I am not quite sure I understand the question. I think I do. The way that the House bill 1734, title II would set up the foundation, the foundation's primary role would be to work with the film community to raise private sector funding and the foundation would be eligible to match that funding with a limited amount of Federal funds and then those funds would be given out as grants to nonprofit institutions throughout the country for specific projects. Mr. Bono. Are any of those preservations for private companies? Mr. Richmond. No, the grants would be given to nonprofit institutions for specific projects. None of the funding would go to pay for any overhead on a project. And the foundation would focus on what has been described as orphan films, films that are held in the public trust by public institutions. The Hollywood studio films, I think we all agree, and the Hollywood community certainly has agreed, are the responsibility of the studios to preserve. Mr. Bono. I just think if they are privately held, then that should be up to that private person. My time is up. Thank you. Mr. MOORHEAD. Mr. Howard Berman. Mr. Berman. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. How did the ninth circuit ever get to Pasadena? Mr. Conyers. Political power. Mr. Berman. It is interesting hearing Mr. Bono's questions, or reaction, the different ways we look at government. He sees it, after I wrote my first song, how come the Government is only letting me keep that song for 22 or 25 years. And I am thinking, the Government is protecting me from all the thieves who want to steal that song for 25 years. And here is a useful role for the Government, trying to protect the creative rights of Sonny Bono and others. And, in fact, on several occasions have extended that period of time and now we are proposing to extend it further. The Government is pla3dng the role of protecting the rights of the individual creator against the people who would want to steal his or her property. And so I guess it is all how you look at it. Mr. Bono. Will the gentleman yield? Mr. Berman. Sure. 9.'^.9R7 Qf? 4