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)

687 Page 3 European law. The billa, for example, extend the copyright period for corporate "authors" to 95 years (or 120 years if the work is unpublished). The European Union, by contrast, now offers corporate authors, for countries recognizing corporate "authorship," 70 years of protection, which is less than the 75 years we currently offer such authors. Consider also the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who died more than 50 years ago and whose works have for some time been in the public domain in England (and Europe). Yet, due to peculiarities of pre1978 United States copyright law, his later works remain under United States copyright, delaying production in this country of public domain collections of his entire works, although Europeans may do so freely. The extension would continue this "disharmony" for another 20 years. Why the music and book publishers and the motion picture industry are backing the proposed extended copyright period is obvious. Those few works that hold on to their popularity for a long time provide an easy stream of revenue, and no one on the receiving end likes to see the stream dry up. But we must remember that the current copyri^t term is already very long. The individual human beings whose efforts created these revenue streams have long since passed from the scene. Society recognized the copyright in the first place *not* so that the revenue stream would be perpetual but rather to encourage creation of the works. Once this purpose has been served, no justification exists to ask the public to continue to pay simply to keep the stream flowing. Hie costs to the public are not limited to the actual royalty dollars in the stream. They also include the unknown (and unknowable) but very real loss of desirable works that are *not* created because underlying works that would have served as a foundation remain under the control of a copyright owner. This legislation is a bad idea for all but a few copyright owners and must be defeated. Howard B. Abrams, University of Detroit Mercy School of Law Martin J. Adelman Wayne State University Law School Howard C. Anawalt Santa Clara University School of Law Stephen R. Bamett University of California at Berkeley Sdiool of Law Margreth Barrett University of California Hastings College of the Law Mary Sarah Bilder Boston College Law School Dan L. Burk Seton Hall School of Law Amy B. Cohen Western New England College School of Law Kenneth D. Crews Indiana University School of Law Indianapolis Robert C. Denicola University of NebraskaLincoln College of Law Rochelle C. Dreyfiiss New York University School of Law Rebecca Eisenberg University of Michigan Law School John G. Fleming University of California at Berkeley School of Law Laura N. Gasaway University of North Carolina School of Law Wendy J. Gordon Boston University School of Law Dean M. Hashimoto Boston College Law School Paul J. Heald University of Georgia School of Law Peter A. Jaszi American University, Washington College of Law Maiy Brandt Jensen University of Mississippi School of Law Beryl R Jones Brooklyn Law School Doinis S. Kaijala Arizona State University College of Law John A. Kidwell University of Wisconsin Law School Edmund W. Kitch University of Virginia School of Law Robert A. Kreiss University of Dayton School of Law Roberta Rosenthal Kwall DePaul University College of Law William M. Landes University of Chicago Law School David L. Lange Duke University School of Law Marshall Leaffer University of Toledo College of Law Mark Lemley University of Texas School of Law Jessica Litman Wayne State University Law School Peter S. Menell University of California at Berkeley School of Law Robert L. Oakley Georgetown University Law Center Harvey Perlman University of Nebraska College of Law L. Ray Patterson University of (Georgia School of Law Leo J. Raskind Brooklyn Law School David A. Rice Rutgers-Newark School of Law Pamela Samuelson University of Pittsburgh School of Law David J. Seipp Boston University School of Law David E. Shipley University of Kentucky College of Law Robert E. Suggs University of Biaryland School of Law Eugene Volokh University of California at Los Angeles School of Law Lloyd LWeinreb Harvard University Law School Sarah K. Wiant Washington & Lee University School of Law Alfred C. Yen Boston College Law School Diane L. Zimmerman New York University School of Law -3 o