Petition to reduce US copyright to 28 years

[GA Russell]

I have found this petition at petitions.whitehouse.gov to reduce the term of copyright in the US to 28 years.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov//pe...years/Z7skGfKk

[HarryT]

Waste of time. This would be a violation of the Berne Convention, to which the US is a signatory.

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Waste of time. This would be a violation of the Berne Convention, to which the US is a signatory.

Actually it would not be a violation when Article 7.8 is applied.

Although the Berne Convention states that the copyright law of the country where copyright is claimed shall be applied, article 7.8 states that "unless the legislation of that country otherwise provides, the term shall not exceed the term fixed in the country of origin of the work", i.e. an author is normally not entitled a longer copyright abroad than at home, even if the laws abroad give a longer term. This is commonly known as "the rule of the shorter term".

Link

The US also modified another Bern requirement concerning copyright registration. The US previously required a copyright to be registered with the US copyright office, but since that is forbidden by the convention, that requirement was dropped. However, if a work is not registered with the US copyright office no statutory damages can apply to an act of infringement.

Registration of copyright refers to the act of registering the work with the United States Copyright Office, which is an office of the Library of Congress. As the United States has joined the Berne Convention, registration is no longer necessary to provide copyright protection. However, registration is still necessary to obtain statutory damages in case of infringement."]Registration of copyright refers to the act of registering the work with the United States Copyright Office, which is an office of the Library of Congress. As the United States has joined the Berne Convention, registration is no longer necessary to provide copyright protection. However, registration is still necessary to obtain statutory damages in case of infringement.

Link

[odiakkoh]

I think life+50 is a bit too long but 28 years seem a bit too short to me. The life expectancy during the times of our founding fathers was 35-40 years so 28 years made sense. You wrote something as an adult and the copyright pretty much expired when you did.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

Actually it would not be a violation when Article 7.8 is applied.

But (and please correct me if I'm wrong), the Berne Convention requires signatories to have a copyright term which is at minimum, "Life+50 years", I believe. Hence setting a fixed 28-year term would not be permitted.

[Soldim]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Waste of time. This would be a violation of the Berne Convention, to which the US is a signatory.

Indeed Berne stipulates a minimum of Life+50. However, one might consider the Berne convention as needing some revision

[Kumabjorn]

It is about time that copyright law was updated and more in line with modern society. Whether a 28 year limit is the optimal approach I don't know, but most legislation needs to be upgraded on a timely schedule, copyright legislation is no different. We are well past the times when printing presses was something only a few wealthy families could afford.

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

I have found this petition at petitions.whitehouse.gov to reduce the term of copyright in the US to 28 years.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov//pe...years/Z7skGfKk

Shame if this Petition is considered a dud because it doesn't comply within the confines of the exiting legislation, that is, that the wording of the Petition does not comply with the extant Berne Convention.

The Petition creators needed to do a bit more research prior to posting their wording, it seems.

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But (and please correct me if I'm wrong), the Berne Convention requires signatories to have a copyright term which is at minimum, "Life+50 years", I believe. Hence setting a fixed 28-year term would not be permitted.

You may interpret it that way, but the US congress is probably under no obligation to interpret the Bern Convention the way you do. The way it looks to me the USA will honor the 50 year rule of any participating country, and will enforce it if the copyright is registered in the USA, but they are under no obligation to grant 50 year copyrights in their own territory.
If you read further into the subject of the Bern Convention you will see that the USA and other countries have already made exceptions or dilutions to the treaty terms and will probably continue to do so in the future.

[HarryT]

Certainly. Many countries have bilateral copyright treaties which override the Berne Convention (eg there's one between the US and UK which has been there since the 1840s), but I do still believe that all Berne Signatories are required to have a "Life+50" copyright term as a minimum. I may well be wrong, but that is my belief.

As Wiki says:

The Berne Convention states that all works except photographic and cinematographic shall be copyrighted for at least 50 years after the author's death, but parties are free to provide longer terms, as the European Union did with the 1993 Directive on harmonising the term of copyright protection.

ie, they are free to have longer terms (as the EU has "life+70", for example) but not shorter ones.

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Certainly. Many countries have bilateral copyright treaties which override the Berne Convention (eg there's one between the US and UK which has been there since the 1840s), but I do still believe that all Berne Signatories are required to have a "Life+50" copyright term as a minimum. I may well be wrong, but that is my belief.

As Wiki says:



ie, they are free to have longer terms (as the EU has "life+70", for example) but not shorter ones.

International treatsies and conventions are about respecting law and conventions in other countries. So if the UK extends a life +70 for a Graham Greene, John le Carré or Sophie Kinsella, the US will have to accept and respect that copyright for the same time frame, just as the UK would have to respect the copyright granted to Truman Capote, Saul Bellow or Toni Morrison in the US. There is, however, no restrictions on setting lower limits for copyright holders within their own nation.
From a practical viewpoint a shorter copyright term would need to be faced in over time, those holding copyrights now can fairly expect those rights to be upheld for the time limit granted them when they obtained said copyright. They have made financial decisions based on the right being available to them, changeing that ex post would be viewed as a retroactive measure and could be fought in constitutional courts.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Soldim

Indeed Berne stipulates a minimum of Life+50. However, one might consider the Berne convention as needing some revision

This.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

It is about time that copyright law was updated and more in line with modern society. Whether a 28 year limit is the optimal approach I don't know, but most legislation needs to be upgraded on a timely schedule, copyright legislation is no different. We are well past the times when printing presses was something only a few wealthy families could afford.

and this.

and disallow corporate ownership of copyright.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

There is, however, no restrictions on setting lower limits for copyright holders within their own nation.

I've been looking at the current text of the Berne Convention.

I'm not sure whether you're right or not. I thought it would be clear, but the more I read it the more puzzled I get.

Can anyone quote article and clause to justify either position?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by kennyc

and disallow corporate ownership of copyright.

So no films, no TV programmes, no newspapers, no magazines, no DVDs, etc? All corporate copyrights.