IV
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. RES. 165
Expressing the sense of the House regarding the protection to be accorded
United States copyright-based industries under agreements entered into
pursuant to the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 4, 1993
Mr. GEPHARDT (for himself, Mr. KOPETSKI, Mr. MATSUI, Mr. MOORHEAD,
Mr. MARKEY, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. EDWARDS
of California, Mr.
HUGHES, and Mr. SUNDQUIST) submitted the following resolution; which
was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House regarding the protection
to be accorded United States copyright-based industries
under agreements entered into pursuant to the Uruguay
Round of trade negotiations.
Whereas copyright-based industries in the United States,
such as those engaged in motion picture and television
program production, audio recording, publishing, and
computer software development, are an increasingly vital
component of the United States economy, having contrib-
uted 5.8 percent in value added to the United States
gross domestic product in 1990 and having grown at over
twice the annual rate of the economy as a whole from
1977 to 1990;
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Whereas United States producers of copyrighted works,
which sell ingenuity and vision, the products of the fu-
ture, and make the United States the world’s largest ex-
porter of creative materials, earned approximately
$34,000,000,000 in foreign sales in 1990;
Whereas during the period between 1970 and 1990—
(1) employment in copyright-based industries in the
United States rose by over 2,500,000 workers, from
3,000,000 to over 5,500,000, and
(2) the total employment in such industries rose
from 3.3 percent to 4.8 percent of all United States
workers;
Whereas some of the largest trading partners of the United
States impose market access barriers and offer subsidies
to domestic producers, thereby making it more difficult
for United States copyright-based industries to compete
in foreign markets;
Whereas many nations fail to provide adequate and effective
copyright protection, refuse to afford United States copy-
right owners the same level of protection that is granted
to their nationals, or disallow United States contractual
rights governing copyrighted works; and
Whereas the ongoing Uruguay Round of trade negotiations
under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade pro-
vides an opportunity to negotiate improved market ac-
cess, and equality of treatment and protection from theft,
for the United States copyright-based industries: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the United States Trade Representa-
tive should insist that any trade agreement negotiated
pursuant to the Uruguay Round to which the United
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States will be a party must provide United States copy-
right-based industries with—
(1) fair and equal access to the markets of the
nations that are party to the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade;
(2) equal opportunities to obtain government
funding;
(3) adequate and effective copyright protection,
including full national treatment and recognition of
contractual rights; and
(4) a mechanism to resolve expeditiously dis-
putes concerning market access, national treatment,
and copyright protection.
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