Orrin Hatch: “I am delighted at the recent passage of S. 505, the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act. The main purpose of the…”

“I am delighted at the recent passage of S. 505, the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act. The main purpose of the bill is to ensure adequate copyright protection for American works abroad by extending the U.S. term of copyright protection for an additional 20 years. The late Sonny Bono was an avid supporter of the bill, and he fully appreciated what its passage would mean to the American economy. It is therefore an appropriate memorial to this fine American. 20 years ago, Mr. President, Congress fundamentally altered the way in which the U.S. calculates its term of copyright protection by abandoning a fixed-year term of protection and adopting a basic term of protection based on the life of the author. In adopting the life-plus-50 term, Congress cited three primary justifications for the change: (1) the need to conform the U.S. copyright term with the prevailing worldwide standard; (2) the insufficiency of the U.S. copyright term to provide a fair economic return for authors and their dependents; and, (3) the failure of the U.S. copyright term to keep pace with the substantially increased commercial life of copyrighted works resulting from the rapid growth in communications media.”