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)

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586 least in the case of these works, the costs of tracking down an author's heirs three generations after the author's death will not hobble prospective licenses. In sum, and on balance, the case for extension of copyright term is stronger than the case against extension: (1) although copyright term extension will only minimally enhance private incentives to produce copyrightable works, extension's effects on public access will be comparably low; (2) private and social discounts aside, the increased present revenues that copyright libraries would generate from foreign sales can be expected to increase the domestic production of new works; (3) the argument that consumers will pay less for works if copyright is not extended is equivocal at best; (4) extension of copyright seems likely to ensure consumers access to high quality copies of older works at prices comparable to those of other works in the marketplace; and (5) the problem of transaction costs — endemic to any copyright term that spans more than a single generation — although far from trivial, may be at least partially resolved by the economic incentives that owners of valuable works will have to keep their works easily accessible for exploitation in the marketplace. If anything in this letter requires clarification or amplification, please do not hesitate to call on me. Cordially yours. PG/la