[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 46 (Friday, March 29, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S3238]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 THE CALIFORNIA ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY

 Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, today we received some disturbing 
reports on America's balance of trade. The trade deficit--the 
difference between the value of our exports and the value of imports--
soared to 10.27 billion in January, a stunning 48 percent increase over 
December, 1995.
  Congress and the President must not ignore this report. While the 
balance of trade is only one measure of economic health, in this 
increasingly global economy, I believe that it is a measure that should 
be given great weight in deciding whether we are doing enough to 
promote healthy economic growth. The reports today should prompt 
Federal policy makers to renew their commitments to promoting American 
business and products overseas, and making our trading partners play 
fair by living up to the trading agreements they have entered into 
willingly with us.
  The bright side of this picture is that the U.S. continues to be the 
most dynamic economy in the world. We are the most productive and we 
make the best products.
  In my own State of California, there is one industry which I wish to 
single out today that is one of the key reasons for American economic 
dominance--the entertainment industry.
  The movie and television industry in California has a payroll of $7.4 
billion. Motion picture production alone counts for more than 133,500 
jobs in California. American made entertainment products are the most 
popular and broadly distributed on the globe, and they constitute a 
large part of America's balance of trade. Foreign sales of copyrighted 
products amounted to $45.8 billion in 1995.
  Unfortunately, the entertainment industry is a victim of one of the 
most egregious foreign trade practices--illegal duplication of 
copyrighted material--or ``piracy.''
  The United States has signed agreements with many other countries 
which obligate their governments to take steps necessary to protect 
U.S. copyrighted material from piracy. In the case of the People's 
Republic of China, however, despite the fact that they have willingly 
signed several such agreements, rampant piracy of American 
entertainment products by Chinese factories has continued. It is 
estimated that U.S. companies lose approximately 1 billion dollars a 
year in sales because of China's failure to protect U.S. intellectual 
property.
  In February, 1995, the United States and the People's Republic of 
China signed an agreement that obligated China to strengthen its 
patent, copyright and trade secret laws, and to improve the protection 
of U.S. intellectual property. Since that time, however, according to 
reports by the U.S. trade representative, only one of the 27 piracy 
plants in China has closed.

  I know that trade representative Mickey Kantor has been very, very 
supportive of the U.S. entertainment industry in pressing the Chinese 
to live up to the agreement they signed. I applaud his decision to send 
his deputy Charlene Barshevsky to China on April 5 to raise the profile 
of the problem directly with Chinese officials.
  I hope that in their meetings, our U.S. officials will emphasize that 
China is legally obligated to comply with the terms of the agreement 
they signed last year. It's not just a policy; it's the law.
  Our delegation should make it clear to the Chinese that the terms of 
the agreement must be met by a date certain. Whether that's May 1, June 
1, or after--doesn't matter. But it should be made clear to them that 
we will hold them to their promises. If they don't fulfill them, the 
U.S. Government will take all appropriate and legal steps.
  In addition, I strongly urge other members of the Clinton 
administration in the Departments of State, Treasury, Commerce and 
others, to support the trade representative's efforts wholeheartedly. 
They should know that it's not just a question of one industry and one 
trading partner; if we allow the agreement we signed just a year ago to 
be ignored, what kind of signal will that send to our other nations 
about the will and strength of the United States in international 
relations?
  Mr. President, I would also like to take this opportunity in speaking 
about our extraordinary entertainment industry to praise the leaders of 
that community for their historic actions with respect to the 
television violence issue.
  They have shown real leadership and responsibility in responding to 
this important social concern by announcing that they will institute a 
voluntary rating system for all television programs. In my view, this 
will give parents the information they need in order to make 
appropriate decisions about the programs their children watch.
  In light of the forthrightness of the industry in coming forward with 
plans to voluntarily rate its programs, I believe that now is not the 
time to bring up other content-related measures. I have, in fact, 
informed the Democratic leader and others that I would oppose any 
attempt to bring up such measures for debate in the Senate.
  Finally, Mr. President, I would like to talk about another issue of 
great importance to California's entertainment industry--copyright term 
extension. Legislation is pending in both the House and Senate to 
extend the current copyright in the U.S. to ``life plus 70 years''. 
This change would harmonize our laws with those of the European union 
which extended terms to life plus 70 last July. Without the change, our 
copyright holders--including California's movie, television, video, and 
audio producers--would be unable to take advantage of the longer term 
of protection in Europe. American copyright owners and their heirs will 
suffer economic hardship and the U.S. balance of trade will be further 
exacerbated.
  Congress should pass this bill now. It has no opposition that I am 
aware of. I strongly urge the parties involved in negotiations on this 
measure to move quickly on it and send it to the President so that it 
can be signed into law. Copyright extension can pass quickly and be 
signed into law.

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