[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. ____________________