Republican Study Committee report suggests copyright reforms, including shorter copyright terms and expanded fair use | Knowledge Ecology International

"On 16 November 2012, the Republican Study Committee, led by Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH), released a policy brief entitled: 'Three Myths about Copyright Law and Where to Start to Fix it' The policy brief argues that: Today’s legal regime of copyright law is seen by many as a form of corporate welfare that hurts innovation and hurts the consumer. It is a system that picks winners and losers, and the losers are new industries that could generate new wealth and added value. We frankly may have no idea how it actually hurts innovation, because we don’t know what isn’t able to be produced as a result of our current system (emphasis in original). The paper lists as its three myths: Myth 1: The purpose of copyright is to compensate the creator of the content. The brief states that 'It's a common misperception that the Constitution enables our current legal regime of copyright protection --in fact, it does not.' The paper notes that the Constitution is to 'promote the progress of science and the useful arts' while arguing that the U.S. copyright system compensates the content creator because of an 'entitle[ment]'  Myth 2: Copyright is free market capitalism at work. The paper argues that 'Copyright violates nearly every tenet of laissez faire capitalism. Under the current system of copyright, producers of content are entitled to a guaranteed, government instituted, government subsidized content-monopoly.' The brief also notes that copyright infringement is punishable by 'massive damages' and jail time, and that criminal sanctions task the government with investigating copyright violations. Myth 3: The current copyright legal regime leads to the greatest innovation and productivity. The paper notes that the Founding Fathers acknowledged a need to provide incentive to create new works, but that too much protection would stifle innovation, in effect requiring a balancing act to ensure the maximum output of productivity. As a result, the Founding Fathers wrote into the Constitution the phrase 'securing for a limited time.' However, the paper notes, the original copyright term in the United States was 14 years, with an additional 14 years available upon renewable as compared to our current copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years, or for corporate works, 120 years or 95 years after publication. The study goes on to further identify specific areas where the United States copyright regime has created harmful effects or has the potential for negative results including ..."