The Coalition is committed to the overall objectives of preserving, strengthening, and expanding copyright protection worldwide. The Coalition does not believe, however, that U.S. adherence to Berne is a necessary or desirable component of policy in achieving this goal. Adherence to Berne can be accomplished only by a fundamental change in our American copyright system -- the introduction of the moral right into U.S. law. Its introduction would alter a carefully crafted balance and upset decades of settled practice, contract conventions, expectations, and risk allocations. Moreover, the benefits claimed to result from adherence are speculative and remote. Mr. KASTENMEIER. Thank you very much, Mr. Ladd, for that summary of the position of CPACT. Before we do open it up for questions, the committee would like to hear from Mr. John Mack Carter. STATEMENT OF JOHN MACK CARTER Mr. CARTER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, for this opportunity to submit testimony on behalf of the Magazine Publishers Association in such an important matter. Since I am going to jump quickly to accept your recommendation as well to summarize my statement, I request that my full statement be entered as a matter of record. Mr. KASTENMEIER. Without objection, your statement will be accepted and made part of the record. Mr. CARTER. Thank you. I am the editor-in-chief of Good Housekeeping magazine, and I am submitting this statement on behalf of the Magazine Publishers Association. MPA is an organization representing the interests of more than 200 publishing firms which publish over 800 consumeroriented periodicals with a circulation exceeding 290 million copies per issue. It is important to make that statement to indicate the size of the industry being directly affected in this matter. MPA opposed adherence to the Berne Convention. We commend Chairman Kastenmeier and Congressman Moorhead for constructive attempts to remedy Berne's problems in their bills. However, as Mr. Ladd has just testified, the fundamental problems created by Berne adherence cannot be solved by legislation. Mine is a different perspective from the three others who have testified this morning. Mine is the perspective of an operating officer, of an editor involved daily in carrying out this job of editing magazines. The American magazine industry as we know it today simply cannot comply with the moral rights provisions of Berne. Those provisions are foreign to American concepts, infringing on editors' freedom, making costly publishing delays inevitable, and possibly even creating a basis for injunctions to stop publication. I am not a lawyer nor an expert on copyright or on international trade, but I am here as an expert on editing a magazine, and I guarantee that adoption of moral rights would radically alter the way American magazines have been edited for over 200 years. The ramifications are enormous. The editor is responsible for seeing that each issue is published on time. Moral rights would curtail the editor's freedom of action and judgment, make the meeting of this responsibility exceedingly difficult, if not possible, and delays mean huge losses for the magazines. The editor has no choice. All materials must be ready by press time, and the closing of an issue requires that these materials be fitted, that some articles be cut in length or some language be added. It is the practice and the custom of the American consumer magazine industry that authors are not given final approval over the final editing of articles. Authors in the magazine industry are aware that such editing takes place. It would be an unfair burden on editors and on the magazine industry to place at risk an issue of a magazine or to risk being thrust into litigation because editing changes made in an article were not approved by an author. The process and problems with respect to photographs are similar. In our industry, photographers are not given approval over how their photographs may be cropped or where they will appear in the magazine. It is impossible to allow authors, and photographers, and illustrators to see final versions of their articles and photographs for prior approval, yet "moral right" would seem to require editors to do so or risk litigation. Berne and "moral right" would fundamentally and permanently change the way that American magazines are edited and published, and not for the better. On behalf of the members of the Magazine Publishers Association, I thank you for considering our views. I, too, would be pleased to entertain any questions. [The statement of Mr. Carter follows:] STATEMENT OF JOHN MACK CARTER ON BEHALF OF THE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION SEPTEMBER 16, 1987 SUMMARY MPA opposes adherence to the Berne Convention. We commend Chairman Kastenmeier and Congressman Moorhead for constructive attempts to remedy Berne's problems in their bills, HR 1623 and HR 2962. However, as Mr. Ladd has testified, the fundamental problems created by Berne adherence cannot be solved by legislation. The American magazine industry as we know it today simply cannot comply with the moral rights provisions of Berne. Those provisions are foreign to American concepts infringing on editors' freedom, making costly publishing delays inevitable, and possibly even creating a basis for injunctions to stop publication. I am not a lawyer, nor an expert on copyright or on international trade. But I am an expert on editing a magazine, and I guarantee that adoption of "moral rights" would radically alter the way American magazines have been edited for over 200 years. The ramifications are enormous. The editor is responsible for seeing that each issue is published on time. "Moral rights" would drastically curtail the editor's freedom of action and judgment, making the meeting of this responsibility enormously difficult, if not impossible. Delays means huge losses for the magazine and its advertisers. The editor has no choice; all materials must be ready for press time. The "closing" of an issue requires that these materials be fitted, that some articles be cut in length, or some language be added. It is the practice and custom of the American consumer magazine industry that authors are not given approval over the final editing of articles. Authors and the magazine industry are aware that such editing takes place. It would be an unfair burden on editors and on the magazine industry to place at risk an issue of a magazine -- or to risk being thrust into litigation - because editing changes made in an article were not approved by an author. The process and problems with respect to photographs are similar. In the magazine industry, photographers are not given approval over how their photographs may be cropped or where they will appear in the magazine. It is impossible to allow all authors and photographers to see final versions of their articles and photographs for approval prior to scheduled publication. Yet, "moral rights" would require editors to do so, or risk litigation. Berne and "moral rights" would fundamentally and permanently change the way that American magazines are edited and published and not for the better. - STATEMENT OF JOHN MACK CARTER MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON COURTS, CIVIL LIBERTIES COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 16, 1987 Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: My name is John Mack Carter. I am submitting this statement on behalf of the Magazine Publishers Association. Time, Better Homes The Magazine Publishers Association (MPA) is an organization representing the interests of more than 200 publishing firms which publish consumer-oriented periodicals. and Gardens, Reader's Digest, and Good Housekeeping are among the more widely circulated magazines, but hundreds of other periodicals appealing to a wide variety of interests and avocations are MPA members. Harper's, Foreign Affairs, Bon Appetit, Essence, Fly Fisherman, Scientific American, Colonial Homes and The New Yorker are among MPA's over 800 member magazines. Circulation of member magazines now exceeds 290 million copies per issue. I am the editor-in-chief of Good Housekeeping and have been since 1975. I am also the director of New Magazine Development for The Hearst Corporation, the owners of Good Housekeeping, as well as the host of the cable television program "Good |