[IP] Taiwan Rejects U.S. Copyright Demands

[Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>]

More likely they want a lot in return djf


------ Forwarded Message
From: Seth Johnson <seth.johnson@RealMeasures.dyndns.org>
Organization: Real Measures
Date: Sat, 12 Oct 2002 03:28:57 -0400
To: declan@well.com, dave@farber.net
Subject: Taiwan Rejects U.S. Copyright Demands


(Take that, CTEA!  :-)  -- Seth)

-------- Original Message --------
Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2002 23:47:44 -0700
From: "Jon O." <jono@networkcommand.com>
To: dmca_discuss@lists.microshaft.org


http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/4260499.htm

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan has turned down a U.S. demand on
Friday to extend copyrights on works including earlier Walt
Disney movies for another 20 years as negotiators on both
sides held talks on intellectual property rights.

Taiwan told a delegation led by Joseph Papovich, assistant
U.S. trade representative, that it would not extend
copyright protection to 70 years from 50 years, a Taiwan
Ministry of Economic Affairs official said.

The U.S. Supreme Court considered on Wednesday whether
Robert Frost poems and Mickey Mouse movies made more than 75
years ago should become public property or remain in the
hands of their owners for another 20 years.

At issue is the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension
Act, which extended the exclusive period that artists and
corporations can control their creative works by 20 years.

As a result, thousands of well-known works, from the
earliest Disney films to the novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald,
were prevented from passing into the public domain. Billions
of dollars of entertainment-industry profits are at stake.

``Taiwan is the first country the United States chose to
discuss the issue. We need not rush into concession,''
legislator Chen Chi-mei of the ruling Democratic Progressive
Party (DPP) told Reuters by telephone.

...

------ End of Forwarded Message

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