Howie Coble trys to rebut Ed Cone, but but but... Emphasis below is mine.
Copyrights, patents and trademarks help to sustain our economy in a major way. The core copyright industries by themselves account for nearly $500 billion of U.S. gross domestic product. Copyright-related employment over the past two decades has produced almost three times as many new jobs as the national average for other sectors. The incentive to create copyrights will quickly dissipate if they are not protected like other forms of property.
Currently, the easiest way to steal the latest musical or cinematic offering is through peer-to-peer technology, which essentially allows computer users to swap music and movie files. Millions upon millions of illegal downloads occur each day at the expense of songwriters, authors, graphic artists, photographers and software developers in North Carolina and the rest of our nation. Digital music piracy by itself worldwide costs the affected copyright owners between $3 billion and $5 billion annually, and sadly, most of the illegal activity occurs in the United States.
And just what the heck does it take to be part of a "core copyright industry"? Is that the companies who create products that can be copyrighted? Is it the lawyers who file the copyright forms or the infringement lawsuits? I know we have to do something with all of those law school grads, but is that really the most effective way to use them? Plus, it appears the right honorable Senator can't tell the difference between the copyrighted work and the copyright itself as the production goal. Howie, did you mean the incentive to create copyrightable works, or did you really mean to just say "to create copyrights"?
Hmmm. Perhaps he does have some insider knowledge about the difference, which would certainly explain all the crapola that's flowed out of the BigMediaCo's and CorporateHollywood for the past few years...
I don't think anyone is against copyrights, per se, Howie, but many do have problems with the continuing extension of copyrights granted to certain mouse-lovin' corporations and their peers, and with attempts to pass laws allowing those mega-corps to break other laws to try to 'defend' (read punish) against any alleged perpetrators, real or imagined. Without having to follow due process, of course, because friends in high places have been paid for. Geez, Howie, just how many articles of the Constitution are you willing to try to route around here for your 'friends'?
Monday, August 26, 2002
