Reclaim the Rule of the Shorter Term

Due to low popularity, please sign at http://www.petitiononline.com/rrstusa/petition.html to support reclaiming the rule of the shorter term in the USA. If you still support the Public Domain Enhancement Act, please sign at http://www.petitiononline.com/eldred/petition.html . Thank you very much for your supports.

To:  Members of the United States Congress

When 17 U.S.C. 104(c) does not consider the Berne Convention superior to the American law, it reads: "Any rights in a work eligible for protection under this title that derive from this title, ......, shall not be expanded or reduced by virtue of, or in reliance upon, the provisions of the Berne Convention, or the adherence of the United States thereto." When 17 U.S.C. 104A since January 1, 1996 started automatic copyright restoration in many works created or published outside the United States, it granted American copyright term without honoring the rule of the shorter term provided in Article 7.8 of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. These would make certain works published outside the USA copyrighted in the USA even if their copyrights in their source countries have expired earlier. When the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 added 20 years of copyright term, those non-American works could remained copyrighted in the USA for even longer term.

There are many works whose copyright holders can no longer be easily contacted. These works are now known as orphan works. Whilst they continue to be legally copyrighted even if their commercial values have been abandoned, the public cannot legally reuse them other than claiming fair use. These problems are impeding cultural developments.

As the server of various Wikimedia projects is physically located in Florida, USA, all users of these projects are subject to Title 17 of the United States Code concerning copyright. Without honoring the rule of the shorter term provided in Article 7.8 of the Berne Convention to release non-American works into the public domain when their copyrights expire in their source countries, Wikimedia websites users are unfairly denied the rights to legally contribute information that is free to use in their home countries. This is why we, the undersigned users and supporters of various Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikibooks, Wikinews, Wikiquote, Wikisource, Wikiversity, and Wikimedia Commons, are writing to you.

Section 8 of Article I of the United States Constitution gives the Congress the power 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. As we see no progress of science and useful arts by denying the rule of the shorter term and extending the copyright term without regard to orphan works, we would like to kindly ask the Congress to consider some major changes to the USA Copyright Act.

First, we would like to kindly ask the Congress to amend Title 17, United States Code, Sections 104(c) and 104A to honor the rule of the shorter term provided in Article 7.8 of the Berne Convention, so once the copyright of a work published outside the USA expires in its source country, its copyright also expires in the USA. The European Union, a major trading partner of the USA, and many other countries and areas, have honored the rule of the shorter term, so we see no more good reasons for the USA to stay out of this important rule.

Second, we would like to kindly ask the Congress to reintroduce and reconsider the Public Domain Enhancement Act. (Please see http://eldred.cc/ .) This Act, first introduced as House Bill 2601 for the United States 108th Congress and reintroduced as House Bill 2408 for the 109th Congress, would require American copyright owners to pay a very low fee such as one US dollar per work fifty years after publishing works in the USA and ten years thereafter to renew their copyrights until the end of the copyright term. Paying to register copyright renewals would allow the public to identify copyright owners to seek permission, but failure to pay such a low fee would release the orphan works into the public domain at least in the USA.

To truly promote the progress of science and useful arts, copyright protection and public domain must be balanced. As the American non-acceptance of the rule of the shorter term and copyright extension are now in the way of the progress of cultural development, science and useful arts, please consider these important suggestions. Thank you.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Reclaim the Rule of the Shorter Term Petition to Members of the United States Congress was created by users of the Wikimedia projects and written by Justin JIH (jus168jih@gmail.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.