30 January 1998
Source: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aaces002.html

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[Congressional Record: January 29, 1998 (Senate)]
[Page S205-S206]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:cr29ja98-31]


    THE IMPORTANCE OF RATIFYING THE WIPO TREATIES AND ENACTING WIPO
                        IMPLEMENTING LEGISLATION

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I hope that the Senate will make a new
year's resolution to focus its energy on issues that create American
jobs, protect American ingenuity, and improve the lives of the American
people. I was disappointed last year that we wasted so much of the
Senate's limited time on partisan and divisive issues.
  This year the Senate should be in the business of doing America's
business. We should be working in a bipartisan manner to enact
copyright term extension legislation so that America's trading partners
will recognize American copyrighted works for the same term that those
countries grant their own national works. We should be passing
encryption legislation to allow American hi-tech companies the freedom
to compete vigorously in the global marketplace. We should be enacting
patent reform legislation to help American innovators, big and small.
  High on the Senate's agenda for doing America's business should be
ratifying the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties
and enacting WIPO implementing legislation. To this end, I would like
to take a few moments to discuss why we should care about these WIPO
treaties, how America will benefit when we ratify these treaties, and
how we can get the job done.

                             WE SHOULD CARE

  Those who care about America's economy and America's creative spirit
should care about the WIPO treaties. Ratification of these treaties
will help protect and enhance U.S. intellectual property rights
throughout the world. In the body of the Constitution as originally
ratified, the word ``right'' appears only once and that is with regard
to the protection of intellectual property. From our beginnings as a
Nation, the Constitution has included within Congress' enumerated
powers, authority ``To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts,
by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive
Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.'' The importance of
protecting and encouraging the intellectual creations of our citizens
has always been a fundamental priority for our country and a
responsibility of our national government.
  Today, millions of Americans owe their jobs and prosperity to
industries created by America's innovators and creators. The
International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) released a 1996
study prepared by Economists Incorporated that outlined the
contribution of U.S. intellectual property industries to the U.S. gross
domestic product, employment, and foreign trade. It detailed, for
instance, that in 1994, copyright industries contributed an estimated
$385 billion to the U.S. economy, accounting for approximately 5.7% of
the GDP. The study concluded that during the period from 1984 to 1994,
job growth in the core copyright industries was twice as fast as
employment growth in the economy as a whole. Regarding foreign sales,
the study found that the copyright industries' exports are larger than
the exports of almost all other leading industry sectors.
  In addition to the economic boon that they provide this country, the
intellectual property rights granted to U.S. citizens have fostered the
creative spirit of the American people. From the days of Benjamin
Franklin and Thomas Jefferson to the dawning of the coming century,
American creative geniuses abound in the visual arts, recording,
writing, and software development industries. The U.S. leads the world
in creative products. What other country can boast of the multitude of
creative, artistic, and technological visionaries?

                          AMERICA WILL BENEFIT

  Because the U.S. is the world-wide leader in intellectual property,
the U.S. will be the main beneficiary if the U.S. Senate ratifies the
WIPO treaties and the Congress enacts WIPO implementing legislation.
  Secretary Daley has observed that ``the treaties largely incorporate
intellectual property norms that are already part of U.S. law.'' The
Administration has concluded that the U.S. need only make two
substantive changes and several non-substantive changes to U.S. law to
bring it into compliance with the treaty requirements. What the
treaties will do is give American owners of copyrighted material
essentially the same protections for their intellectual property in
those foreign countries that become party to the treaties as they enjoy
here in the United States.
  Let me give you an example. The U.S. already has a distribution right
of the sort provided in the treaty. Many other countries, however, do
not yet recognize this right. So if a U.S. publishing company suspects
that its books are being illegally copied in a country that does not
have a distribution right, it cannot go after the distributor of the
illegally copied goods in that country. Imagine trying to stop illegal
drug usage if you couldn't go after the drug distributors. That is the
problem that our copyrighted industries face battling piracy in many
countries throughout the world today.

                          GETTING THE JOB DONE

  We should consider and pass the WIPO Copyright and Performances and
Phonograms Treaty Implementation Act, S.1121, which I cosponsored with
Senators Hatch, Thompson and Kohl last July. I hope that the Senate
will

[[Page S206]]

not further delay in examining the impact of the treaties and the
implementing legislation. We need to expedite the process of resolving
issues essential to S.1121.
  I intend to work with the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee on
these important matters. I want to commend Senator Hatch for the time
he has spent and is spending seeking to resolve matters that have
become impediments to progress on important intellectual property
matters.
  Unfortunately, these important legislative matters were stalled last
year by linkage to additional issues not necessary to their enactment.
We made no progress on the treaties and implementing legislation.
America cannot afford further delay.
  Some have expressed concern that ratification of the WIPO treaties
and enactment of implementing legislation threaten to increase what
they perceive to be a current risk that they will be held liable for
copyright infringements by users whose conduct they can neither prevent
nor control. They are demanding legislation limiting their copyright
liability and demanding that it be resolved before ratification of the
WIPO treaties and passage of implementing legislation can proceed.
  The extent to which and circumstances under which copyright liability
may be imposed on online service providers is a matter that I believe
could easily be dealt with separately from the WIPO treaties and
implementing legislation. Were service provider liability to be
considered legislatively, I think that Congress would be better off
working toward carefully targeted clarifications of the law rather than
attempting to legislate wholesale reform that risks becoming obsolete
in a short time, or freezing industry practices and preventing them
from evolving as efficiently as possible.
  Vinton Cerf, the co-inventor of the computer networking protocol for
the Internet, stated in The New York Times:

       The Internet is now perhaps the most global and democratic
     form of communications. No other medium can so easily render
     outdated our traditional distinctions among localities,
     regions and nations.

  We see opportunities to break through barriers previously facing
those living in rural settings and those with physical disabilities.
Democratic values can be served by making more information and services
available.
  Technological developments, such as the development of the Internet
and remote computer information databases, are leading to important
advancements in accessibility and affordability of art, literature,
music, film, information and services for all Americans. Properly
balancing copyright interests to encourage and reward creativity, while
serving the needs of public access is the challenge. Historically, the
government's role has been to encourage creativity and innovation by
protecting copyrights that create incentives for the dissemination to
the public of new works and forms of expression.
  Intellectual property can, at times, be arcane and abstract. But
these matters have very real and important consequences to the American
economy and creative spirit, and the viability of industries that
produce everything from movies to records to books to software depends
on it. That means that the American people are depending on us to put
partisan differences aside. We may not make headline news by working on
WIPO implementing legislation, but we will help create American jobs.

                          ____________________
