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who invested money in it or who produced it, et cetera. It is a different concept than ours.
Mr. Berman. I understand. And I am just trying to translate that into the different ways we treat copyright protection. In the United States under the 1976 law, then, a motion picture is protected for a set period of years, which is what? How many years under existing law?
Mr. Valenti. Correct. Fifty now.
Mr. Berman. Seventy-five years?
Mr. Valenti. Excuse me. I am sorry; 75, because you are going 20 more years in order to match the Europeans. Forgive me. I erred. It is 75 years.
Mr. Berman. And the chairman's bill would extend that 20 additional years in the case of motion pictures?
Mr. Valenti. Correct. Correct.
Mr. Berman. Well, 20 additional years in all cases, but that is how it would work here. From 75 to 95.
Just on the issue, since there is nobody testifying against the copyright extension, the statement that works in the public domain don't get effectively — clearly, I am for the bill. I think the trade arguments are compelling and I think the notion of rewarding the creator and thereby incentivizing the creator and the creator's heirs for a reasonable period of time, not for centuries, but for a reasonable period of time, argues for the bill and that is why I am a cosponsor of it.
But one of the arguments being given by some of you is that in addition works that go into the public domain lose value and don't get exploited. But books that have gone in the public domain, all kinds of classical music is in the public domain. People have found it economical to publish them and to produce the sheet music from which symphonies in the public domain are performed and recorded and sold.
I mean, there is still value to a lot of those works. How would — am I wrong about that?
Mr. Valenti. I don't want to speak about sheet music. I will leave that to Mr. Murphy and the music I will leave that to Marilyn.
In the movie business, let me give you the argument that I have read in several papers which are in opposition, mostly by academics. And I haven't read any paper by anybody who is a professional in the business who is opposed to this.
The academic argument is that, one, the customer benefits because he gets these public domain properties cheaper. The answer is let's take "It's a Wonderful Life" in the public domain. I pay $52 a month for cable, and when it is shown on cable, my cable bill is not reduced 1 cent. When it is shown on television, the television station charges the advertiser the same rate that he charges him for the hour previously, if it is in fringe time.
There is no economic benefit to the consumer that I have been able to figure out. I have read a paper by Mr. Gomery of the University of Maryland in which he is talking about — he made his principal pitch on silent film and if you had public domain, silent films would suddenly become very popular. But even the ones that are in public domain now, the distributors of public domain films