Expanding copyright is unpopular

Third and most interestingly of all, even representatives of content producers are now having second thoughts about the desirability of long copyright terms. In a remarkable statement to Ars Technica last week, the Authors Guild reportedly expressed that it:

does not support extending the copyright term, especially since many of our members benefit from having access to a thriving and substantial public domain of older works. If anything, we would likely support a rollback to a term of life-plus-50 if it were politically feasible

While it may not currently be politically feasible for the United States to roll back its own bloated copyright term, it is certainly feasible for it to stop attempting to force this term onto other countries through secretive trade agreements. Indeed, there are very good reasons why U.S. trade negotiators should cease wasting their political capital on an issue that even the creative sector is no longer concerned about, when they could be expending that capital on some of their other, even more contentious demands.

Copyright term extension was never a good idea. But it's a much worse idea when it's being forced upon countries that don't want it, as part and parcel of a closed, exclusionary, and lobbyist-driven trade agreement. The United States and Europe must cease demanding that their trading partners increase their copyright term, and countries receiving such demands should feel empowered to refuse them, knowing that even the creative industries are now coming around to the idea that a longer copyright term is not better.