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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."
Like it's news that the TPP is a terrible, terrible treaty and needs to be stopped.
This is just one more reason we need to make quite sure that there's bipartisan opposition to this.
Dan Aris
Fun. Free. Online. RPG. BattleMaster.
Orphan works are potential competitors, even if the true authors decide to release them to the public domain.
If someone dug up an orphan work it's a potential threat to the revenue streams of the current incumbents and in its in their interest to keep it buried regardless of what the original owner may think.
This is especially true when without a valid owner asserting their rights you can't even be sure who the statutory damages are even supposed to get paid to.
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!
The LEGAL meaning for copyright infringement cannot by definition include the word 'stealing'. It is YOU who are wordsmithing. Infringement is not theft, it simply is not the correct term, you cannot use it in that context without being ABSOLLUTELY wrong.
Good-bye
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.
The big big big power grab in TPP is the corporate sovereignty clauses. These allow company to sue governments if the government passes a law that disadvantages the companies profits:
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150325/17151130431/corporate-sovereignty-provisions-tpp-agreement-leaked-via-wikileaks-would-massively-undermine-government-sovereignty.shtml
The court that decides this is a Kangaroo court too, not a legal court, a tribunal of industry lawyers would decide if a law violates a companies profits and needs to be reversed.
Sugary drink taxes, banning cigarettes, banning bee killing pesticides, you name it, the tribunal could override the elected government on all of these matters. Rendering democracy optional.
No wonder its being discussed in secret by a group of people, but thankfully we still have Wikileaks and the draft treaty has been leaked by a few honest people among the negotiators who are allowed to see how bad it is.
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.