PRESS RELEASE – July 1st, 2009
New TransAtlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) resolution calls on policy makers to consider measures to moderate the harm caused by long terms of copyright and related rights.
The TransAtlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) today issued a Resolution on the Terms of Protection for Copyright and Related Rights, and Measures to Expand Access to Works not Exploited by Copyright Owners (the Resolution is accessible on http://www.tacd.org).
The TACD is a trade advisory body to the European Union and the U.S. Government, with 80 member organizations in Europe and the United States.
The regimes for copyright and related rights, including the terms of protection, vary by country and by types of work, and are regulated by a complicated web of global trade rules. The TACD resolution expresses opposition to copyright and related that exceed the period required by the WTO TRIPS agreement. In cases where this recommendation is not followed, TACD asks governments to introduce measures, such as limitations and exceptions to rights, or registration requirements, to mitigate the harm from long terms of protection.
TACD first discussed the Resolution with representatives from the European Union and the U.S. Government on June 9th, 2009, during the TACD 10th Annual Meeting in Brussels.
The following are comments about the Resolution from members of the TACD (Quotes are arranged in alphabetical order):
Edouard Barreiro, UFC-Que Choisir (Paris, France)
“Each time the duration of copyright protection is extended, it creates significant harmful effects, increasing the private income of some, which does not foster investment or research, and hinders innovation and creation.”
Jill Johnstone, Consumer Focus (London, UK)
“Excessive terms of protection for copyright and related rights shrink the public domain, threaten consumers’ access to knowledge and hinder innovation by creative communities. Terms of protection in the EU and US should not exceed those required by the WTO TRIPs Agreement. The “arms race” approach to copyright term extension must stop.”
Eddan Katz, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), San Francisco, CA (USA)
“The perpetual extension of copyright protection does not incentivize creativity and innovation, nor does it facilitate the dissemination of culture to the public. Term extension has served only to extend a windfall to the few and powerful incumbent copyright holders. This proposal and resolution brings back evidence-based decision-making for advancing the balance of interests among society’s stakeholders in copyright legislation.”
Anne-Catherine Lorrain, TACD (Brussels, Belgium)
“Policy-makers should ground policy decisions on objective evidence and analysis. In the event that longer terms of copyright protection are adopted, they still have the option to counter-balance the harmful effects of such policies, by adopting several measures to improve public access to knowledge goods. This resolution provides both a framework for making policy, and suggestions for lessening and harmful impacts of bad policies.”
James Love, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), Washington, DC (US)
“Extended terms of copyright have decimated the public domain at a time when there is a growing awareness of the value of re-using and re-purposing works in digital formats. The TACD resolution provides a framework for policy analysis, and also identifies several ways to mitigating the harm of term extensions, within the constraints of the WTO TRIPS Agreement. Among the strategies proposed are requirements for registration of works in the extended term of protection, and more liberal exceptions or compulsory licensing of works in the extended terms.”
Thomas Nortvedt, the Consumer Council of Norway (Oslo)
“Copyright law is under pressure from both consumers and rights holders. To uphold and increase the respect for copyright, it is paramount that legislation is reasonable, understandable and justifiable for all parties involved. This resolution underlines important aspects to be taken into account for legislators on both sides of the Atlantic, such as thorough peer reviewed assessments before increasing protection beyond what is required under international agreements, and making demands when rights holders do not exploit works the public should have access to.”
Kostas Rossoglou, European Consumers’ Organisation (BEUC), Brussels (Belgium)
“BEUC fully supports the right for artists to fair remuneration; however, extended copyright terms are not the right instrument to achieve this aim. Extending a temporary monopoly without sound economic justification, does not facilitate the search for new business models, nor address the need for the increased provision of legal content. Copyright should aim to keep a balance between rights holders and society as a whole. This balance risks to be seriously altered by recent proposals to extend the terms of copyright protection, notably in the EU. BEUC calls on EU Member States and the new European Parliament to duly consider the recommendations included in the TACD Resolution.”
Sherwin Siy, Public Knowledge, Washington, DC (US)
“For too long, legislatures have accepted uncritically the assertions of industry that longer copyright terms necessarily lead to more creation. However, as terms reach multigenerational lengths, mounting evidence has shown that long terms can chill discussion, debate, analysis and revisiting of existing works, to the detriment of our society at large. Because of this, any proposed extension of terms must be rigorously shown to actually benefit all of society, and not just specific segments of industry.”
Contact:
James Love, KEI, Washington, DC, US co-Chair of TACD Policy Committee on Intellectual Property, +1 202 332 26 70
Jill Johnstone, Consumer Focus, London, EU co-Chair of TACD Policy Committee on Intellectual Property, +44 207 799 79 00
Anne-Catherine Lorrain, TACD IP Project, Brussels, +32 473 99 97 92
Julian Knott, TACD Coordinator, London, +44 207 226 66 63 ext. 218
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COMMUNIQUE DE PRESSE – 1er juillet 2009
Avec l’adoption d’une nouvelle résolution, le Dialogue TransAtlantique des Consommateurs (TACD) appelle les décideurs politiques à compenser les effets pernicieux causés par les trop longues durées de protection des droits d’auteur et droits voisins.
Le TACD a aujourd’hui adopté une Résolution sur les durées de protection du droit d’auteur et des droits voisins, et sur les mesures propres à améliorer l’accès aux œuvres non exploitées par les titulaires de droits (la Résolution est accessible sur http://www.tacd.org).
Le TACD est un organisme consultatif représentant près de 80 associations de consommateurs américaines et européennes.
Le régime du droit d’auteur et des droits voisins, dont la détermination de la durée de protection des droits, varie d’un pays et d’un type d’œuvre à l’autre, en se doublant d’un faisceau de règles de commerce international souvent complexe. La résolution du TACD exprime l’opposition des consommateurs aux durées de protection des droits allant au-delà des dispositions des Accords ADPIC de l’OMC. Dans l’hypothèse où cette recommandation n’est pas respectée, le TACD demande aux gouvernements de mettre en place des mesures propres à contrebalancer les effets pervers des longues durées de protection des droits, telles la prise en compte d’exceptions aux droits exclusifs, ou des mesures d’enregistrement des œuvres.
TACD Resolution on Copyright Terms – 1 July 2009
