[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2589 Reported in House (RH)]

                                     





                                                 Union Calendar No. 258

105th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                               H. R. 2589

                          [Report No. 105-452]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 To amend the provisions of title 17, United States Code, with respect 
         to the duration of copyright, and for other purposes.



_______________________________________________________________________

                             March 18, 1998

  Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
       House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed





                                                 Union Calendar No. 258
105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 2589

                          [Report No. 105-452]

 To amend the provisions of title 17, United States Code, with respect 
         to the duration of copyright, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 1, 1997

 Mr. Coble (for himself, Mr. Frank of Massachusetts, Mr. Conyers, Mr. 
Gallegly, Mr. Goodlatte, Mr. Bono, Mr. Cannon, Mr. McCollum, Mr. Canady 
  of Florida, Mr. Berman, Mr. Boucher, Ms. Lofgren, and Mr. Delahunt) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

                             March 18, 1998

  Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
       House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
 [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on October 
                                1, 1997]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the provisions of title 17, United States Code, with respect 
         to the duration of copyright, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Copyright Term Extension Act''.

SEC. 2. DURATION OF COPYRIGHT PROVISIONS.

    (a) Preemption With Respect to Other Laws.--Section 301(c) of title 
17, United States Code, is amended by striking ``February 15, 2047'' 
each place it appears and inserting ``February 15, 2067''.
    (b) Duration of Copyright: Works Created on or After January 1, 
1978.--Section 302 of title 17, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a) by striking ``fifty'' and inserting 
        ``70'';
            (2) in subsection (b) by striking ``fifty'' and inserting 
        ``70'';
            (3) in subsection (c) in the first sentence--
                    (A) by striking ``seventy-five'' and inserting 
                ``95''; and
                    (B) by striking ``one hundred'' and inserting 
                ``120''; and
            (4) in subsection (e) in the first sentence--
                    (A) by striking ``seventy-five'' and inserting 
                ``95'';
                    (B) by striking ``one hundred'' and inserting 
                ``120''; and
                    (C) by striking ``fifty'' each place it appears and 
                inserting ``70''.
    (c) Duration of Copyright: Works Created but Not Published or 
Copyrighted Before January 1, 1978.--Section 303 of title 17, United 
States Code, is amended in the second sentence by striking ``December 
31, 2027'' and inserting ``December 31, 2047''.
    (d) Duration of Copyright: Subsisting Copyrights.--
            (1) In general.--Section 304 of title 17, United States 
        Code, is amended--
                    (A) in subsection (a)--
                            (i) in paragraph (1)--
                                    (I) in subparagraph (B) by striking 
                                ``47'' and inserting ``67''; and
                                    (II) in subparagraph (C) by 
                                striking ``47'' and inserting ``67'';
                            (ii) in paragraph (2)--
                                    (I) in subparagraph (A) by striking 
                                ``47'' and inserting ``67''; and
                                    (II) in subparagraph (B) by 
                                striking ``47'' and inserting ``67''; 
                                and
                            (iii) in paragraph (3)--
                                    (I) in subparagraph (A)(i) by 
                                striking ``47'' and inserting ``67''; 
                                and
                                    (II) in subparagraph (B) by 
                                striking ``47'' and inserting ``67'';
                    (B) by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
    ``(b) Copyrights in Their Renewal Term at the Time of the Effective 
Date of the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1997.--Any copyright still 
in its renewal term at the time that the Copyright Term Extension Act 
of 1997 becomes effective shall have a copyright term of 95 years from 
the date copyright was originally secured.'';
                    (C) in subsection (c)(4)(A) in the first sentence 
                by inserting ``or, in the case of a termination under 
                subsection (d), within the five-year period specified 
                by subsection (d)(2),'' after ``specified by clause (3) 
                of this subsection,''; and
                    (D) by adding at the end the following new 
                subsection:
    ``(d) Termination Rights Provided in Subsection (c) Which Have 
Expired on or Before the Effective Date of the Copyright Term Extension 
Act of 1997.--In the case of any copyright other than a work made for 
hire, subsisting in its renewal term on the effective date of the 
Copyright Term Extension Act of 1997 for which the termination right 
provided in subsection (c) has expired by such date, where the author 
or owner of the termination right has not previously exercised such 
termination right, the exclusive or nonexclusive grant of a transfer or 
license of the renewal copyright or any right under it, executed before 
January 1, 1978, by any of the persons designated in subsection 
(a)(1)(C) of this section, other than by will, is subject to 
termination under the following conditions:
            ``(1) The conditions specified in subsection (c) (1), (2), 
        (4), (5), and (6) of this section apply to terminations of the 
        last 20 years of copyright term as provided by the amendments 
        made by the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1997.
            ``(2) Termination of the grant may be effected at any time 
        during a period of 5 years beginning at the end of 75 years 
        from the date copyright was originally secured.''.
            (2) Copyright renewal act of 1992.--Section 102 of the 
        Copyright Renewal Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-307; 106 Stat. 
        266; 17 U.S.C. 304 note) is amended--
                    (A) in subsection (c)--
                            (i) by striking ``47'' and inserting 
                        ``67'';
                            (ii) by striking ``(as amended by 
                        subsection (a) of this section)''; and
                            (iii) by striking ``effective date of this 
                        section'' each place it appears and inserting 
                        ``effective date of the Copyright Term 
                        Extension Act of 1997''; and
                    (B) in subsection (g)(2) in the second sentence by 
                inserting before the period the following: ``, except 
                each reference to forty-seven years in such provisions 
                shall be deemed to be 67 years''.

SEC. 3. TERMINATION OF TRANSFERS AND LICENSES COVERING EXTENDED RENEWAL 
              TERM.

    Sections 203(a)(2) and 304(c)(2) of title 17, United States Code, 
are each amended--
            (1) by striking ``by his widow or her widower and his or 
        her children or grandchildren''; and
            (2) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the following:
                    ``(D) In the event that the author's widow, 
                widower, children, and grandchildren are not living, 
                the author's executors shall own the author's entire 
                termination interest, or, in the absence of a will of 
                the author, the author's next of kin shall own the 
                author's entire termination interest, on a per stirpes 
                basis according to the number of such author's next of 
                kin represented. The share of the children of a dead 
                next of kin at the same level of relationship to the 
                author eligible to take a share of a termination 
                interest can be exercised only by the action of a 
                majority of them.''.

SEC. 4. REPRODUCTION BY LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES.

    Section 108 of title 17, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (h) as subsection (i); and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (g) the following:
    ``(h)(1) For purposes of this section, during the last 20 years of 
any term of copyright of a published work, a library or archives, 
including a nonprofit educational institution that functions as such, 
may reproduce, distribute, display, or perform in facsimile or digital 
form a copy or phonorecord of such work, or portions thereof, for 
purposes of preservation, scholarship, or research, if such library or 
archives has first determined, on the basis of a reasonable 
investigation, that none of the conditions set forth in subparagraphs 
(A), (B), and (C) of paragraph (2) apply.
    ``(2) No reproduction, distribution, display, or performance is 
authorized under this subsection if--
            ``(A) the work is subject to normal commercial 
        exploitation;
            ``(B) a copy or phonorecord of the work can be obtained at 
        a reasonable price; or
            ``(C) the copyright owner or its agent provides notice 
        pursuant to regulations promulgated by the Register of 
        Copyrights that either of the conditions set forth in 
        subparagraphs (A) and (B) applies.
    ``(3) The exemption provided in this subsection does not apply to 
any subsequent uses by users other than such library or archives.''.

SEC. 5. VOLUNTARY NEGOTIATION REGARDING DIVISION OF ROYALTIES.

    It is the sense of the Congress that copyright owners of 
audiovisual works for which the term of copyright protection is 
extended by the amendments made by this Act, and the screenwriters, 
directors, and performers of those audiovisual works, should negotiate 
in good faith in an effort to reach a voluntary agreement or voluntary 
agreements with respect to the establishment of a fund or other 
mechanism for the amount of remuneration to be divided among the 
parties for the exploitation of those audiovisual works.

SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall take effect on 
the date of the enactment of this Act.