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too — ^the interests are just too disparate in both ends. That is my emotional sense of what is going on.
Ms. Saffer. I am here as a lawyer, and I assume that means that I am not supposed to be emotional. I am just supposed to be logical. But I am always tempered by the fact that I am a human being, and so my comments, really, express both my logical and emotional reaction.
You addressed a point Mr. Weller made about how he should explain to his son about the fact that the duration of copyright is limited. And perhaps
Mr. Weller. That is next year, by the way. He is only 8.
Mr. CONYERS. He is not ready for the Constitution. OK.
Ms. Saffer. I am supposedly
Mr. CoNfYERS. I hate to tell what you my son is asking me about, and he is only 4. Excuse me.
Ms. Saffer. I have read the Constitution several times over my lifetime, and I think that the point here is that nobody is trying to change the Constitution. The Constitution provides for cop3n:ight protection for a limited time, but it doesn't say what that limited time should be.
What we are attempting to do is to change the law so that the limited time will be one that makes sense in our lifetime, and in these circumstances, in order to provide the best benefits for the creators and for America as a whole. And as we see it now that is simply to give us parity with European counterparts, extend another 20 years, not change the Constitution.
Mr. CONYERS. Thank you.
Last but not least, Mr. Eves.
Mr. Eves. Congressman, we are not objecting to a label for a label's sake. I think the very willingness of the MPAA to try to start a voluntary program is indicative of our willingness to do that.
We are admittedly very, very protective about this industry. We are certainly aware of a difference in the way the Americans and the Europeans have approached the moral rights issue. But in thinking about those differences, we are also terribly aware of how successftjl we have been in this country with the movie business. And the success that we have met with in this country causes us to ask ourselves the question: Why have we been so much more successful than those in other countries?
Mr. Conyers. The implication is that you will be less successful with this labeling? Is that your point?
Mr. Eves. That is very much a concern, sir, yes.
Mr. Conyers. OK.
Mr. Eves. We also think that many of the kinds of issues that we are talking about today ought to be issues that are discussed at the bargaining table. When people sit down and they talk about wages and terms of work and conditions and benefits and residuals and all of the factors that go into the agreement, this is the place and venue for artists' rights discussed to occur. If there is an argument or disagreement later on, it should be resolved by the parties themselves and we should not ask Congress once again to step into it.