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Represenutives of songwriters stated that there is no savings for consumers where their works pass into the public domain because there is no reduction in price and that, therefore, only the creator loses. ' An independent distributor of motion pictures and television shows urged that it was not fair to penalize the creator and that "There is an effort by 'public domainers' that pirate motion picmres world-wide to obstruct the efforts to restore copyrights so they [can] use freely motion pictures without licenses from the owners." '*
b. Evaluation. In evaluating any change to the copyright law, Congress must go back to the constitutional mandate. With respect to extending the copyright term two provisions must be considered: that copyright laws exist for the benefit of the public, and that copyright shall be for "limited times."
(i) Public benefit. In the United States, economic and social effects of protection must be considered. The key is to promote creativity on the one hand, and to ensure maximum public access to this creativity on the other. One question raised is whether shorter terms inhibit creativity and the production of new works. The Copyright Office does not believe a case has been made that extension of the copyright term would diminish the creation of new works. To make such a case, we suggest comparing the experiences in countries with a shorter term to those with a longer term.
Strong copyright laws foster rather than discourage the creation and broad dissemination of culniral works. Panicularly since copyright, unlike patent, only protects expression not ideas or facts, and a new author is free to use his or her own expression to create a different work out of the same public domain idea or facts. It is only when the new author appropriates the expression of the earlier author that considerations of copyright arise. Moreover, it has not been shown that the creation of
•.. . '' See, e.g.. Comment 6 at p. 3. (George David Weiss, President, The Songwriters Guild of America). '* Sm Comment 23 (Wade Williams Productions).
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