Thursday, January 18, 2018
How Closed Trade Deals Ratchet Up the Copyright Term Worldwide
Electronic Frontier Foundation: Although copyright is a subject of international law—principally the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)'s Berne Convention from 1886 and its Internet Treaties from 1996—it is still implemented and enforced primarily through national laws. Those laws differ from one country to another in significant ways. One of the most significant differences is the length of the term of copyright protection, which varies from the life of the author plus 50 years (the Berne Convention's minimum requirement), up to life plus 100 years (in Mexico).
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Like most policies implemented in the United States and around the world, informed subject experts are not the most prevalent voice in the policy negotiation conversation, but politicians and lobbyists interested in making their richest constituents richer. I am not surprised that lobbyists that negotiate these trade agreements are willing to push for copyright laws that make little economic sense. The United States has followed this model in pretty much every policy sector since the two parties in the two party system have deepened the divide between them (think: climate change, healthcare, social welfare projects). I am also not surprised that this conversation has not involved any content makers-- the copyright holders. Especially in the creative industries, being able to build off of previously fabricated projects is essential to the growth of the industry. In jazz in particular, it is commonly said that there is no original music. Every song, every musical phrase is an iteration (or at the very least, taken heavy inspiration from) previously created music. I was taught to play this way, and I'm sure that young musicians now are taught that way as well. If our copyright laws reflected the creative traditions of not only the jazz world, but all creative industries as well, I'm sure the evolution of our culture would be brilliant.
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