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the families of songwriters such as Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, and Duke Ellington, who early in their careers, were often required to enter into agreements relinquishing ownership of their works. The 20 year term extension would give their famiUes some of the benefits of ownership that they may have lost in the first 56 years of copyright.
Just as important to remember, is the sad reality that once works fall into the public domain, the families of the creators have no incentive to maintain the works in a format that is useful to the public. Most of the estates represented by AmSong maintain ev:tensi\"e archives that are not only sources of information for scholars, but also serve as cuUural resource centers for the public, anxious to perform a special piano concerto by Geoige Gershwin or an orchestral arrangement by Leonard Bernstein. It is the public who will wind up losing if an unreasonably short copyright term puts the archives of these master songwriters out of business.
FinaUy, compelling economic factors mandate an extension of our copyright laws. .American intellectual property is this country's second largest export and it also provides a significant revenue base at home. Our country's culture is universally popular; it is heard, seen, performed, and enjoyed everywhere throughout the world. In light of the recent European Union action, copyright term extension in the United States has become an essential element in safeguarding our national economic security. Moreover, every year more and more works are falling into the public domain while they are still commercially viable. This not only deprives the owner of the works and their families the benefits of income, but it diminishes the flowback of taxable revenues generated from overseas sales. We must extend the term of copyright in the United States if we are to continue to reap the economic benefits of our intellectual property in the world and domestic marketplaces.
For all of the foregoing reasons, it is imperative that we extend the term of copyright in the United States by 20 years. 1 commend you. Chairman Moorhead, for introducing H.R. 989, the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1995. I .urge each member of this SubcomiHittee, pnd every gjemba" of Congress to suppon this bill and vote H.R. 989 into