Copyright term, film labeling, and film preservation legislation : hearings before the Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fourth Congress, first session, on H.R. 989, H.R. 1248, and H.R. 1734 ... June 1 and July 13, 1995 (1996)

287 will benefit from term extension, has based a number of its recent works on public domain stories. This goes back, of course, to Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (1937), but includes The I,it~le MerT.aid (1989), Beauty and tae Beasi: (1991), Alladin (1992), and Pocahantas (1995). Within the last few years, Kenneth Branagh has adapted two Shakespeare plays, Henry V and Much Ado .About Nothing ; Martin Scorsese has brought Sdith Wharton's kae of Innocence to the screen; Gillian Armstrong has filmed Louisa May Alcott's Little Women (1994), and Anieszka Holland has made Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden (1993). Term extension will impoverish che public domain and poses a threat to the spirit of copyright law. In 1976, terms were extended and this came at the expense of the public domain. Just as those earlier extensions are now about to expire, it is proposed that they be extended yet again. Will additional term extensions be proposed twenty years from now? Copyright holders naturally wish to extend their rights, but successive extensions of copyright terms will undermine--or perhaps even destroy — the concept of public domain and the rights of the public. 3. The proposed legislation fails to consider the needs of users of copyrighted material. Lengthening copyright protection would have a significant impact on users of copyrighted and public domain works. As educators and scholars, we are concerned that this material will be increasingly difficult to obtain for scholarly and classroom use. As part of the nation's cultural heritage, such documents should be preserved and studied by disinterested scholars and educators rather than hoarded by copyright owners who may have little regard for the public good. If copyrighted material is never made available for use, that material has effectively been repressed or censored by its owners. This is especially critical for motion picture and televisions works. With the publication of a book, copies are sold to the public; some copies are deposited in libraries. If that book goes out of print, copies continue to survive in libraries and can be obtained by users (via inter-library loan if your local library does not have it). Motion pictures and television programs are not made available in the same way. Copies of these works on film are not sold. Nor are they deposited at libraries. Even the Library of Congress, which once required two deposit copies of motion pictures, now returns deposit prints at the request of the depositor. If motion pictures or television programs have been deposited at the Library of Congress or at a public archive, they can be studies on the premises. But they cannot be used in the classroom or screened in theaters without the permission of copyright holders. Traditionally, copyright holders have not readily make films and other materials available for educational or scholarly use. Or, if access is given, the costs involved have been prohibitive. It is not cost-effective for Hollywood studios, television networks, and large distributors of television programs which make their profit from the mass market to serve educational needs. Consequently, they frequently refrain from providing educators with ready access to