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Prepared Statement of John Belton, Professor, Rutgers University, on Behalf of the Society for Cinema Studies
Introduction
Founded m 1959, the Society for Cinema Studies is a professional cr-ranization of college and university educators, filnunakers, sc.'.olars, historians, and others concerned wiuh the study of the moving iniage and recorded sound. Memoership of the Society currently r.urr.bers xore than one thcusar.d . Activi-ies of the Society include "he organization of an annual conference that is regularly attended cy over 60C participants and .he publication of Cinema Journal , a quarterly magazine devotee to film and television studies. The Society has established e number of ccmmitTzees to deal with issues related co our field; these include a moving image archive policy committee and a committee on the preservation and access of film, radio, end video/television materials for research and classroom use. 3C3 is also an active member cf the National Film Preservation Board.
Comments and Rationale
The Society offers the following comments on the proposed extension of copyright protection. These comments are concerned chiefly with the proposed legislation's application to motion pictures and other audio-visual media. They seek to address issues of term extension as they relate to works made for hire:
1. The proposed legislation fails to distinguish adequately between different kinds of works.
Copyright law has established distinctions between works created by individual authors and works made for hire. .^Vrguments in support of this proposed legislation ignore those distinctions. The principles of authorship that prevail in other art forms, such as painting and literature, cannot be naively applied to the cinema and other audiovisual media. The works of individual artists and authors are being considered for extended protection in large part because of the hardship that surviving family members might endure without continued income from these works. However, this argument cannot be applied to works made for hire, such as motion pictures and television programs, which are copyrighted by large corporations. A corporation cannot be compared to surviving family members nor can it be said to experience individual hardships. Corporations are, by definition, not individuals but collective entities established for the pursuit of certain kinds of business ventures. The claim of "natural right" as authors should not be extended to corporations.
2. The proposed legislation would impoverish the public domain as a source for new works without providing any clear compensating advantages.
Copyright protection is designed to encourage creativity by
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