Big Content asks presidential candidates for more restrictive copyright laws

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Big Content asks presidential candidates for more restrictive copyright laws

By Ryan Paul | Published: November 21, 2007 - 09:33AM CT

The Copyright Alliance, which counts the MPAA and RIAA amongst its members, has sent letters and questionnaires to presidential candidates in an effort to determine where they stand on issues relating to intellectual property law. In a copy of the letter seen by Ars, Copyright Alliance executive director Patrick Ross says he speaks "on behalf of the 11 million Americans employed in the creative industries," and asserts that piracy reduction is essential.

"The future of our creative output in the United States is at stake in the 2008 presidential election," the letter to the candidates says. "It is critical not only for members of the creative community but also for the US economy to ensure that copyrights are respected and piracy is reduced. We are asking you to let us know what you would do to help preserve one of America's greatest strengths, its creative community."

A questionnaire attached to the letter is written in a manner that reflects the Copyright Alliance's agenda and is clearly intended to serve as an instrument of persuasion. The introduction to the questionnaire states that "the livelihood of the next generation, and America's global competitiveness, will increasingly depend on the strong copyright protection that allows creativity to be rewarded."

The questions include calls for stronger laws and stricter enforcement. "How would you promote the progress of science and creativity, as enumerated in the U.S. Constitution, by upholding and strengthening copyright law and preventing its diminishment?" one question says.

It is ironic that the content industry invokes the Constitution to support their position. Copyright law, as laid out in the Constitution, attempts to maximize the potential for creativity and innovation by balancing the rights of content creators and content consumers. The Constitution established this balance by mandating limited terms for copyrights, and US copyright law recognizes fair use. Recent changes to copyright law influenced by the content industry—most notably the egregious Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act—have undermined the balance by restricting fair use and expanding the length of copyright protection to preposterous durations.

The steady expansion of copyright law poses a grave risk to creativity and innovation because it threatens to further erode the public domain. Artistic creation will suffer gravely when the cultural heritage of America can be chained down and held ransom. Consider Disney, one of the prominent members of the Copyright Alliance and a vocal supporter of copyright extension. Some of Disney's most prodigiously creative and profitable animated films are based on folk tales and stories from classical literature that were taken directly from the public domain. When the public domain shrinks, the potential for modern adaptation of classic works is severely constrained. In the future, innovative companies that want to bring older content into new mediums will be deterred by excessive and unjustifiable licensing costs as a result of copyright expansion.

"How would you protect the incentive to create by committing sufficient resources to support effective civil and criminal enforcement of copyright laws domestically and internationally?" another question asks.

The Copyright Alliance's assumption that criminal enforcement deters piracy is dubious at best. Litigation and enforcement have done little to stop file sharing. But investigation and litigation costs a lot of money. The record labels have already made it clear that the RIAA's litigious campaign against alleged file-sharers is money-loser. Now they want the government to "commit resources" to their futile crusade too.

Recent studies indicate that excessively broad copyright laws make virtually all of us infringers; stronger laws will make that worse.

The language used in the letter and questionnaire is blatantly deceptive and reflects the egregious self interest of Big Content. One can only hope that the candidate who eventually takes office is sensible enough to cut through the spin and recognize that the greatest threat to creativity and innovation in America is copyright extension, the erosion of fair use, and the abusive behavior of the Big Content industry—not piracy.