Statement of Administration Policy: S. 1822 - Manufacture and Public Distribution of Certain Copyrighted Material Act

(Senate)
(Thurmond (R) South Carolina and 18 others)

The Administration strongly opposes S. 1822, as reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the President's senior advisers would recommend its disapproval to the President. S. 1822 would extend the manufacturing clause of U.S. copyright law beyond its June 30, 1986 expiration date and, in so doing, it would: (1) continue a current violation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT); (2) result in retaliation against U.S. industries in a variety of sectors by our trading partners; (3) undermine U.S. efforts to secure international agreements for bringing intellectual property rights issues under the GATT; (4) make it difficult for the United States to encourage other nations to enact strong intellectual property laws; and (5) provide unnecessary protection to the U.S. printing industry.

The Administration does, however, support S. 1822, as reported by the Senate Committee on Finance, which would repeal the manufacturing clause and require the U.S. Trade Representative to identify barriers to trade in printed material and report its findings to Congress by February 1, 1987.