The witnesses at Tuesday’s House Judiciary IP Subcommittee...
The witnesses at Tuesday’s House Judiciary IP Subcommittee hearing on moral rights, copyright terms and resale royalties are Associate Register of Copyrights Karyn Claggett; Rick Carnes, Songwriters Guild of America president; Casey Rae, Future of Music Coalition vice president-policy and…
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education; Michael Carroll, law professor at American University; and Tom Sydnor, American Enterprise Institute’s Center for Internet, Communication and Technology Policy visiting fellow (http://1.usa.gov/1zulM0E). “We should join the 70 other countries who provide a resale royalty right in an effort to fairly compensate visual artists,” said House Judiciary IP Subcommittee ranking member Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., in a Monday news release on the hearing. “This would ensure that, in addition to resale royalties for works resold in this country, American artists also benefit when their works are sold overseas,” he said. The American Royalties Too Act (HR-4103) (S-2045), introduced by Nadler and Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Ed Markey, D-Mass., (CD Feb 27 p12) “attempts to correct an existing injustice and would help American artists wherever their works are sold,” he said. HR-4103 “expands copyright owners’ exclusive rights, in the case of a work of visual art, to include the right to collect or authorize the collection of a royalty if the work is sold by a person other than the author for at least $5,000 in an auction,” (http://1.usa.gov/1jIYO1e). The Copyright Office is “pleased” HR-4103 “adopted a number of the Office’s recommendations, including a relatively low price threshold, a royalty rate that is consistent with international practice, a cap on the royalties available from each sale, collective management by private organizations with government oversight, and a request for further study by the Copyright Office,” said Claggett in advance testimony (http://1.usa.gov/1wmXKA6). Discussing the right to reclaim copyrights previously sold, Rae said in advance testimony (http://1.usa.gov/1yiFIlC), “Termination rights allow creators to have another bite at the apple, even if they end up re-granting their rights to a label, publisher or another entity.” “Artists may have more leverage than they did at the time that they first signed, and using that leverage, they can negotiate more favorable deals or recapture ownership for the purpose of licensing directly,” he said. The hearing is at 1 p.m. in 2141 Rayburn.