[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 102 (Wednesday, September 6, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1407]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




INTRODUCTION OF THE ``WORK MADE FOR HIRE AND COPYRIGHT CORRECTIONS ACT 
                               OF 2000''

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, September 6, 2000

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join with subcommittee 
ranking Member Howard Berman and subcommittee chairman Howard Coble to 
introduce the ``Work Made for Hire and Copyright Corrections Act of 
2000,'' which strikes ``sound recordings'' from the definition of 
``work made for hire'' in section 101 of the Copyright Act.
  This bill undoes an amendment to the Copyright Act made last 
November, an amendment that changed the Act to treat ``sound 
recordings'' as ``works made for hire.'' Without the benefit of 
Committee hearings or other debate, that change effectively terminated 
any future interest that artists might have in their sound recordings 
and turned them over permanently to the record companies.
  Fortunately, all of the interested parties--the Members, the 
recording artists, and the recording industry--after hearing testimony 
at a Subcommittee hearing now agree that the provision must be struck, 
that we must return the law to where it was on November 28, 1999, the 
day before the amendment passed into law, so that artists' authorship 
rights are preserved.
  I am pleased that the recording industry has worked diligently with 
the recording artists to reach agreement on how to do just that. 
Arrived at after several months of negotiations, this bill ensures that 
we return to status quo ante on ``sound recordings'' with respect to 
whether and under what circumstances they are considered ``works made 
for hire.'' The bill is retroactive to the date section 1011(d) was 
enacted. As such, this bill will function as if section 1011(d) never 
existed; the artists and industry have the same rights now that they 
did on November 28, 1999.
  I ask my colleagues to support this compromise legislation. Vote 
``Yes'' when it comes before the full House.

                          ____________________