RE: Cross Posting: Public Domain Enhancement Act

["Robert Panzer" <rpanzer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mr. Pomea states:

	" HR 2601 creates a simple mechanism....."

"This process would not be an undue burden for the copyright holders (who
today must pay a fee when they register with the U.S. Copyright Office) and
would realize significant and important public benefits."

If we are speaking of corporate copyright holders, then perhaps the added
formality is not a big deal.  For individual rights holders, such as fine
artists and photographers it is a big deal.  I believe that the interests of
individual rights holders have largely left out of this debate and most
debates about copyright policy.

The formalities of the pre-1976 copyright act and pre-1989 signing-on to the
Berne convention (copyright notice no longer required) were solely
responsible for the entry into the public domain of likely tens of thousands
of works of art and photography.  By joining the Berne convention, the U.S.
committed to end the onerous formalities (even though we still have some,
like registration, which it is my understanding is not allowed under Berne),
which have been unique to our country.  Now, in the interest of the
"public", some want to go right back from where we came.  Yes, Disney,
Microsoft, Sony and all the book publishers will make sure everything is
done right because each of their properties is worth thousands to millions
of dollars and they have staffs of lawyers and the like to keep up with the
law and file everything just right.  But the artist (or later the estate)
who created say, 100 works per year over a lifetime, often with a relatively
low value each, especially the relatively unknown artist, will likely not
have the knowledge, time, money or organizational skills to fulfill onerous
formalities. The past proves this. And for fine art, determining
"publication" date is sometimes impossible.  I know of no good legal
definition of "publication" when it comes to works published as one copy.
The 1976 statute and the 1989 lifting of the copyright notice requirement
were meant to get rid of some of the many problems inherent in the 1923 act.
This bill moves us right back to the problems of the past.

A new law with new formalities would essentially give the fullest protection
to those who stand to make millions, while the less "successful" will lose
their rights.  In the worlds of entertainment and publishing, most of the
time, the value in a copyright occurs within the first few years of
distribution to the public.  Also, the primary value comes from reproduction
rights; mass media is distributed through numerous copies.  With fine art,
it is often just the opposite.  The value in copyright often comes well
after a work is created, after the artist has become well known through the
sale of original works, which may end up in museums. It is then when artists
typically become aware of the importance and value of copyrights and when
they are in a position to actually earn income from such rights.  But then
it may be too late.

It seems that the world of creativity outside the U.S. has managed to
function pretty well without copyright formalities, yet we in the U.S. keep
coming back to them because we are a society which looks to legal means as a
way to view and control everything.  This method is often good for
politicians and large corporations but tends to hurt individuals and
individual creators.  The more complex we make our lives the more difficult
it is for us to carry on and actually have normal ones.

Sincerely,

Robert Panzer
Executive Director
VAGA (Visual Artists and Galleries Association)
VAGA represents artists' copyrights


 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Neal Pomea [mailto:npomea@xxxxxxxx]
Sent:	Friday, June 27, 2003 3:39 PM
To:	digital-copyright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject:	Cross Posting: Public Domain Enhancement Act

This is cross posted from the ALAWASH listserv
ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 12, Number 58
June 27, 2003

In This Issue: Public Domain Enhancement Act Introduced in House On
June 25, 2003

Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) introduced the Public Domain
Enhancement Act (HR 2601), a bill to make it easier for older and
endangered copyrighted works to fall into the public domain.
Representative Doolittle (R-CA) co-sponsored the bill, which is intended
to reform lengthy terms of copyright protection.   The Copyright Term
Extension Act of 1998 added another 20 years of protection to what had
previously been a 50-year term of protection for copyrighted works.

HR 2601 creates a simple mechanism by which copyright owners who wish
to avail themselves of the additional 20 years of protection would be
required simply to pay a $1 fee 50 years after the work was published
and every 10 years thereafter.  Thus, materials - currently those
published between 1923 and 1942 - that would have gone into the public
domain but for the 1998 law and that copyright holders do not intend to
exploit commercially during the additional 20 years of protection would
enter the public domain.  This process would not be an undue burden for
the copyright holders (who today must pay a fee when they register with
the U.S. Copyright Office) and would realize significant and important
public benefits.

Under provisions of this act, the U.S. Copyright Office would establish
a user-friendly, efficient electronic filing procedure to process forms
to extend the term of protection; collect the minimal $1 maintenance
fees; and make the forms broadly available to the public so that there
is one centralized directory of titles that remain under the additional
twenty years of protection.  Today it is onerous and costly for
libraries to track down copyright holders of older materials.

It is estimated that after 50 years from the time of publication, 98%
of copyrighted materials are no longer providing any economic benefit to
the copyright holders.  The latter provision is especially crucial to
libraries, archives and the public as it would provide a single database
that could be easily searched to determine whether or not a particular
work remains under copyright protection or is in the public domain.

At the June 25 press conference to introduce the bill, Representative
Lofgren acknowledged the support of the library community.  Miriam
Nisbet, ALA Legislative Counsel, speaking on behalf of ALA, the American
Association of Law Libraries and the Association of Research Libraries,
emphasized that this bill would enable libraries to preserve many
materials that would otherwise be lost.  Professor Larry Lessig of
Stanford Law School, who worked with Representative Lofgren on drafting
the legislation, presented her with a Petition to Claim the Public
Domain with 15,000 names of bill supporters.

Please contact your representatives and urge them to co-sponsor HR
2601, the Public Domain Enhancement Act. For further information, go to
www.ala.org/copyright and click on copyright news.  To sign the
petition, go to http://eldred.cc, a website that serves as the focal
point for information about the campaign to pass this bill.

--
Neal Pomea
Information and Library Services
University of Maryland University College
3501 University Blvd. East
Adelphi, MD 20783

Phone: 301-985-7579 or 1-800-283-6832, ext. 7209
Fax:   301-985-7870
npomea@xxxxxxxx

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