tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post111763987076230719..comments2024-03-15T11:42:21.265-04:00Comments on The Patry Copyright Blog: Principle and the Responsibility of Policy MakingWilliam Patryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12987498082479617363noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-1117971532519272392005-06-05T07:38:00.000-04:002005-06-05T07:38:00.000-04:00Timothy:Your memory is excellent, except my testim...Timothy:<BR/>Your memory is excellent, except my testimony was in the House, before my old subcommittee, in the period after I had left the subcommittee but before starting as a full-time law professor at Cardozo.<BR/><BR/>The decision had already been made to pass term extension (Hayden Gregoty and I had rejected it the prior year) and so I was faced with a common dilemma: do you rail against a fait accompli or do you try to improve it? I chose the latter, and that was to argue the term extension should be given directly to the authors.<BR/><BR/>I tried to enlist Sonny Bono's help, but to limited success. In private meetings with members's staff, there was support for the idea, but there were unfortunately no author's groups supporting it (another story), so my proposal died and instead I pushed with some success (the third permination period) for better termination rights although I testified in favor of my idea.<BR/><BR/>I will do a future column on termination rights,probably Tuesday.William Patryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12987498082479617363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-1117900920945332992005-06-04T12:02:00.000-04:002005-06-04T12:02:00.000-04:00Professor, thanks for the clarification, (though I...Professor, thanks for the clarification, (though I would still tend to think that any copyright bill that Hatch cooperated on was extremist by definition). Hughes sound like the sort of legislator we could use more of.<BR/><BR/>And yes, I am aware of your writings against the term extension. Your "Idle Rich" journal article remains one of the significant analyses of those events. To say that you "testified against" term extension doesn't quite match my own memories. I remember your testimony in the Senate as being not so much against term extension, as for more generous termination rights. Your point was that the extension in itself would do nothing for some authors (including performers) whose contracts had been worded a certain way. But obviously you'd remember your own testimony better than I would. And, though I don't agree with you on everything, I agree that the termination procedure in the present statute is too generous to assignees and too cumbersome to authors and their heirs. Maybe you could do a 'blog column on that question sometime ?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-1117812297026766332005-06-03T11:24:00.000-04:002005-06-03T11:24:00.000-04:00Timothy's point about wide spread support having n...Timothy's point about wide spread support having nothing to do with pragmatism is a good one (and for the record I testified against term extension). What I was referring to in my reply to Ruid was not widespread support, but to something quite different: Congressman Hughes' approach to legislating only those matters that stood a chance of passing (and that represented good policy). That's why he worked with his counterparts in the Senate and the Republicans in the House. On tough bills, such cosponsorship also showed industry that they better come to the table, since no industry (other than the broadcasters) could avoid to buck both subcommittee chairs.William Patryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12987498082479617363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-1117803946665376022005-06-03T09:05:00.000-04:002005-06-03T09:05:00.000-04:00Wide support in Congress for a proposal doesn't ma...Wide support in Congress for a proposal doesn't make the proposal "pragmatic". The copyright term<BR/>extension had almost no one speak against it, but it is "pragmatic" policy only in the sense that it could have been even worse.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-1117765474801528192005-06-02T22:24:00.000-04:002005-06-02T22:24:00.000-04:00Ruidh referred to pragmatism.My boss, Mr. Hughes, ...Ruidh referred to pragmatism.My boss, Mr. Hughes, was a moderate to conservative Democratic (his district was Republican), and this might support his theory. But in my experience, IP has never been partisan. We introduced every bill we could in parallel with DeConcini and Hatch in the Senate and our House Republican counterpart, Mr. Moorhead. We had a particularly close relationship with Hatch. That nonpartisan approach continues today with Lamar Smith and Howard Berman in the House (otherwise polar opposites) and Hatch and Leahy in the Senate (ditto). Indeed one copyright bill had Frist and Barbara Boxer as cosponsors. But I think the best example one can point to on pragmatism is Judge Posner, both individually and in contrast with his colleague Judge EasterbrookWilliam Patryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12987498082479617363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-1117741325065282722005-06-02T15:42:00.000-04:002005-06-02T15:42:00.000-04:00It's just an example of the ongoing tension betwee...It's just an example of the ongoing tension between pragmatism and ideology. Different individuals have different preferences for compromise. Pragmatic people will compromise values in order to get a bette result. <BR/><BR/>Congress 30 to 40 years ago used to be more pragmatic on many issues then Congress is today. Both the right and the left have become increasingly ideological on many issues.ruidhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15713756911507133985noreply@blogger.com