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no one preserves. The quality of the print is soon degraded. There is no one who will invest the funds for enhancement because there is no longer an incentive to rehabilitate and preserve. A public domain work is an orphan. No one is responsible for its life. But everyone exploits its use, until that time certain when it becomes soiled and haggard, barren of its previous virtues. Who, then, will invest the funds to renovate and nourish its future life when no one owns it? How does the consumer benefit from that scenario? The answer is, there is no benefit. What academics offer in numbing detail are the arcane drudgeries of graphs, charts, and arithmetical lines drawn across a page, all of which dwell in isolation, separated from the realisms of the marketplace.

And that brings us to the Fourth reason why it is necessary to extend copyright term limits.

The Congress can, without reaching into the pockets of the average consumer, magnify the revenue reach of copyright owners, and thereby help, perhaps modestly, but help nonetheless, in the reduction of our trade deficit, as well as encouraging the preservation and nourishment of this nation's great, unmatchable trade prize, the American movie. In the global intellectual property world of tomorrow, competition will reach a ferocity unimagined today. The Congress must equip American owners of intellectual property with a full measure of protection, else competition, in Europe particularly, becomes skewed and U.S. copyright owners are reduced in their effectiveness.

Which returns us to the singular premise on which this plea is based: It is in the economic best interests of this country to

Mr. CONYERS. I may have heard it before.

Mr. MOORHEAD. He wants you as a cosponsor on the bill.

Mr. VALENTI. I said, Mr. Chairman, if I may, Mr. Chairman, 1 more minute. I said that I wanted you here, Congressman Conyers, because you are one of the three or four members of this subcommittee who hasn't cosponsored this copyright term extension and I felt like you would be susceptible to some of my passionate pleas.

Mr. CONYERS. I always have been.

Mr. VALENTI. Anyway, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am grateful for the time.

Mr. MOORHEAD. Thank you.

Our next witness is Marilyn Bergman and many of you have heard, "The Way We Were," and many of the other wonderful, wonderful songs that she has written. We are very fortunate to have you here today.

STATEMENT OF MARILYN BERGMAN, SONGWRITER, PRESIDENT AND CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD, AMERICAN SOCIETY OF COMPOSERS, AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS

Ms. BERGMAN. Thank you. Good morning, again, Mr. Chairman. And thank you for holding these hearings about 12 miles from my home. You beat me by 8 miles.

Mr. BECERRA. Close enough.

Ms. BERGMAN. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, and members of the subcommittee, my name is Marilyn Bergman. I am a song writer. I am also president and chairman of the board of ASCAP. I very much appreciate the opportunity to express our strong support for H.R. 989, the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1995.

At the risk of repeating some of the eloquent words of our chairman, and certainly the passionate words of Mr. Valenti, for the record I have to make my statement.

I wish to start, Mr. Chairman, by applauding your recognition of the importance of extending our copyright term. You have been a leader on this important question, as on so many others vital to American creators and owners of copyright. We wish to express our deepest thanks for your support and for that of the many cosponsors of this legislation from the subcommittee, Representatives Becerra, Berman, Bono, Coble, Gallegly, Gekas, Goodlatte, Nadler, and Schroeder.

As you know, ASCAP exists to license the nondramatic public performances of copyrighted music written and owned by our more than 65,000 composer, lyricist, and music publisher members. We license music users and monitor, collect, and distribute royalties to our members. These royalties are the largest single source of income to song writers and that is what enables us to work in our chosen field and create the music that enriches the culture and the economy of our country.

ASCAP, together with our sister societies BMI and SESAC, are among the many interested parties which have joined together to form the coalition of creators and copyright owners to support your

My testimony today will focus on why this legislation is vital for America's music, and I will do so from my personal perspective as both ASCAP's chairman and as a working lyricist.

H.R. 989 proposes to extend the terms of all copyrights in the United States by 20 years. There are two overriding reasons why that is an important idea. The first is economic. Term extension is necessary as a matter of international trade. It is necessary if our intellectual property, which does so much for the American economy, is to be protected internationally.

The second is that it is the right thing to do. The United States should do all it can to encourage creativity and to protect intellectual property. Extension of copyright term will serve to encourage the tens of thousands of music creators who struggle to earn a living in this highly competitive business, and for whom the prospect of leaving an asset of their own making to their children and grandchildren is a powerful incentive.

Copyright of all forms of property transcends both national and international boundaries. In recent years, we have seen a true internationalization of the demand for and use of copyrighted works. Music, among a wealth of other copyrighted works, flows freely among and between nations.

The technological developments which have resulted in the information superhighway, the national and global information infrastructures, will result in even greater ease of access to and commerce in copyrights and copyrighted music on a worldwide basis. The creativity the world wants, as Mr. Valenti so passionately put it, is overwhelmingly the creativity of our country. America's music is what the world wants to hear and our music is far more popular overseas than foreign music is here. That means that we have a very positive balance of trade in music, as in all other copyrighted works.

Last year, ASCAP sent $27 million overseas for performance of foreign music here, but we received $103 million for the performance of our music abroad. If we were to count the amounts received by foreign subsidiaries of American music publishers for foreign performances the amount would be much greater.

As you know, the European Union has adopted a directive to go into effect 1 month from today, which will make the copyright term throughout the E.U. 20 years longer than it is in the United States. But because of the rule of the shorter term, those European countries will not protect American works for additional 20 years unless our copyright term is also lengthened by 20 years.

I and my American colleagues will have less protection than our European counterparts. And what is worse, we will lose, our country will lose, the 20 years of royalties which we would otherwise earn if our country's copyright term was equal to that of the E.U.'s. ASCAP has calculated that the loss of ASCAP performing rights revenues earned in Europe alone by American writers and music publishers for the oldest 20 years of copyrighted music would amount to about $14 million annually.

When we consider that performing rights are half the total income writers and publishers receive, we could estimate that in

$25 million annually; money which would go directly to American creators, businesses, and the American economy's benefit.

The loss of these revenues would not be fair to those of us who work so hard to create America's music, to those who invest considerable sums to bring that music to the public, and to our fellow citizens who rely on a strong U.S. economy.

Mr. Chairman, if nothing else, it comes down to this: We can obtain 20 years of continued trade surplus for American creativity in the European market at no cost to ourselves simply by enacting your legislation. If we do not do so and do not do so now, over the next 2 years, the following great American songs and many others will fall into the public domain. The revenues they and other copyrighted works would generate in Europe for another 20 years, which would serve the economic good of our country, will simply vanish. Let me mention a few.

Appropriately, "California, Here I Come," "Toot Toot Tootsie Good-Bye," "Rhapsody in Blue," "Tea for Two," "It Had To Be You," "The Man I Love," "I Will See You in My Dreams," "Lady be Good," "Ain't We Got Fun," "All By Myself," "April Showers," "Avalon," "I'll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time," "I'm Just Wild About Harry," "Look For The Silver Lining," "Make Believe,” “Say It With Music," and "Secondhand Rose," only to mention a few.

Logic and our country's economic self-interest dictate that we extend our copyright term to take advantage of this opportunity for extended protection in the European market. We can do so by enacting H.R. 989. Mr. Chairman, thank you for introducing this vital legislation and for this opportunity to voice our strong support for it.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Bergman follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MARILYN BERGMAN, SONGWRITER, PRESIDENT AND CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD, AMERICAN SOCIETY OF COMPOSERS, AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS

Good morning, Chairman Moorhead and members of the

Subcommittee.

My name is Marilyn Bergman. I am a songwriter. I am also President and Chairman of the Board of ASCAP. I very

much appreciate the opportunity to express our strong support for H.R. 989, the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1995.

We

I wish to start, Mr. Chairman, by applauding your recognition of the importance of extending our copyright term. You have been a leader on this important question, as on so many others vital to American creators and owners of copyright. wish to express our deepest thanks for your support, and for that of the many co-sponsors of this legislation from the Subcommittee, Representatives Becerra, Berman, Bono, Coble,

Gallegly, Gekas, Goodlatte, Nadler, and Schroeder.

As you know, ASCAP exists to license the nondramatic public performances of copyrighted music written and owned by our more than 65,000 composer, lyricist and music publisher members. We license music users, and monitor, collect and distribute royalties to our members. These royalties are the largest single source of income to songwriters, and that is what enables us to work in our chosen field and create the music that so enriches the culture, and the economy, of our country.