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TPP Scuttles Attempts To Fix Orphan Works
jsrjsr writes: David Post, writing at the Volokh Conspiracy blog, describes how the Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty may prevent any changes to copyright law regarding orphan works. Quoting: "Big problem #1 is that copyright law doesn’t require the plaintiff to show any damage whatsoever. And it authorizes awards of up to $150,000 in “statutory damages” for each work that is infringed — independent of any damage assessment. ... It appears that the latest version of the treaty contains, buried within its many hundreds of pages, language that could require the U.S. to scuttle its plans for a sensible revision of this kind. ... Any provision of U.S. law that eliminated 'pre-established damage' or 'additional damages' for any class of works could be a violation of various TPP provisions requiring that such damages be made available, and it even appears that distribution of orphan works would have to subject the distributor to criminal copyright liability."
OK, I get it, intellectual property is a real thing and needs a certain amount of protection. But you know what? Protecting property costs money! I own a condo and I pay taxes on it - something like 2% of the property value per year! Obviously the tax rates for IP need to be set at a reasonable level, but if a company is claiming x billion dollars of IP, perhaps they ought to pay a tax of a few hundred thousand for property protection. And if they lapse in their tax payments, perhaps their ownership rights lapse too, just as the city or state would take over my property if I stopped paying taxes.
--- Often in error; never in doubt!
There is a very simple way to fix the orphan works problem and also let Disney have Mickey forever. The root of the problem is giving free, automatic copyright for 150 years or so to every work.
Instead require that copyrights be renewed every ten years with a one year grace period. First renewal is free but you have to fill out a form on-line. Second renewal is $1,000. Fee for each subsequent renewal doubles. This will quickly place all of the non-economically via works into the public domain. It also lets you keep a copyright forever as long as you keep paying the renewal fees.
This is definitely going on in the music industry. Vast amounts of older music is kept buried via copyright law so that it won't compete with the new stuff. As escalating fee for copyright renewal would stop this.
Second.
The first was the East India Company. Arguably the first 'megacorp' in history. They managed to go further even than modern multinationals - while those of today will manipulate events behind closed doors and pressure politicians in secret, the East India Company had sufficient influence with the British government that they were contracted to serve as the actual government of India, assuming all administrative functions with the duty of turning a profit. They even hired their own army to maintain power.
The role of very large corporate powers in government today is certainly concerning, but not entirely without precedent.
Sometimes this is true... I mean, look at the Iran deal, and all the screaming about that (which, while probably not a great deal, is far better than no deal when you really dig into things), and that's -after- the fact. Also, look at how many times proposals were floated and people not involved in the negotiations on both sides tried to pre-emptively shoot them down, without consider concessions, and letting the negotiators work.
At the same time though, when it comes to a trade treaty like this, there seems to be so much fuckery going on with provisions being slipped in that are entirely about protecting wealthy interests that are decidedly NOT in the interest of the average citizen. It's the fact that this stuff is being kept secret, in hopes of sneaking it into the treaty, which must then be either accepted or rejected as a whole, so that we're forced to take it along with the other beneficial stuff. No, it's bullshit, and it needs to stop.
So how do you do that without denying the negotiators any wiggle room? Well, for one, I'd suggest that drafts be published at regular intervals. You can keep the proceedings themselves secret, so long as we get a record of what they have so far at reasonable periods, and can provide feedback based on that.
That, and maybe force the input and recommendations/asks from any corporation/special interest/lobbying group to go on public record from the moment it's submitted.