GOP group issues, immediately retracts disturbingly sensible paper on IP law

[Lemur]

Consider the public good? Balance creator rights with common sense? We can't have that.

On Friday afternoon, an influential group representing conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives released a shockingly sensible memo calling for sweeping reforms of the nation's copyright laws. But less than 24 hours later, the group's executive director, Paul Teller, issued a statement saying he was recalling the memo because it had been "published without adequate review."

The Republican Study Committee is a caucus consisting of more than 160 conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives—a majority of that party's House members. It acts as an internal think tank for the group, developing policy proposals and providing intellectual support for conservative positions. Hence, an RSC endorsement of sweeping reforms to the nation's copyright laws would be a watershed moment in the national copyright debate.

The memo, titled "Three Myths about Copyright Law and Where to Start to Fix it," is a direct assault on the relentlessly pro-copyright worldview dominating Washington for decades. "Most legislative discussions on this topic are not premised upon what is in the public good or what will promote the most productivity and innovation, but rather what the content creators 'deserve' or are 'entitled to' by virtue of their creation," the memo says. That's a problem, it argues, because the Constitution says the point of copyright is to "promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts"—not merely to line the pockets of incumbent copyright holders.

The memo also contends "copyright violates nearly every tenet of laissez faire capitalism," granting content producers a "guaranteed, government instituted, government subsidized content monopoly." Excessive copyright protection, it claims, "leads to what economists call 'rent-seeking' which is effectively non-productive behavior that sucks economic productivity and potential from the overall economy."

The memo concludes with policy recommendations, and it reads like a copyright reformer's wish list. It calls for reducing statutory damages, which under current law can go as high as $150,000 per infringement. It advocates expanded fair use and penalties for false copyright claims. And it proposes a complex new scheme for copyright renewals that would reduce the maximum term of copyright to 46 years.