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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633 beginning of the century. We should stop playing "catchup" with the rest of the civilized world. Another, related potential argument against term extension is that the public supposedly has an interest in the proliferation of derivative works based on works that fall into the public domain. But there is no evidence that availability of works in the public domain leads to significant exploitation of the works by way of derivative works . Opponents of H.R. 989 argue that the public will be substantially deprived of access to works of any significance as a result of term extension. That argument rings hollow. Only a few exceptional examples of public domain works or derivatives thereof have been of high quality and are widely publicly available. There is, however, nothing to suggest that, for example, the new theatrical and film versions of Phantom of the Opera would not have been made but for its public domain status. Indeed, the argument seems to work the other way: works protected by copyright are far more likely to be made widely available to the public in a form the public wants to enjoy than works in the public domain. The costs of quality production, distribution and advertising, and changing technology, all require a major investment to exploit most works. Few are willing to make such -31