CP has many negative consequences, equal protection is key, and violated the Berne Convention.
Smith 23[Matthew J.; an intellectual property attorney in trademark and copyright practice; 2/15/2023; Polsinelli; “Copyright Term Reduction Act, Part 2: Let’s Party Like It's 1909”; https://www.polsinelli.com/publications/copyright-term-reduction-act-part-2-lets-party-like-its-1909]//kaviWaRu
The proposed reduction of the copyright term has potentially negative consequences: Reducing the copyright term based on Disney's political stances may violate copyright creators’ or owners’ First Amendment rights against viewpoint-based discrimination and the Fifth Amendment guarantee of due process. In addition, the current bill would very likely put the United States in conflict with the terms of the Berne Convention. Implemented by Congress in 1998, the Berne Convention is an international treaty intended to convey a minimum set of standard legal principles and protections for literary works and currently requires a minimum copyright protection term of the author’s life plus 50 years.
While interesting and certainly newsworthy, it is likely the current effort to reduce the copyright duration will face the same fate as last year - lots of talk but little action. However, this current movement does highlight a shift in sentiment regarding works entering the public domain and the lack of appetite to enact further copyright term extensions. Essentially, all good things must come to an end, and in the case of Disney’s earliest version of Mickey, as he appears in “Steamboat Willie” in the 1928 animated short, will whistle his way into the public domain in 2024. Yet copyright owners need not despair entirely – in some cases content owners may avail themselves of other intellectual property protections, like trademarks, to protect their famous works and characters.
As a final takeaway, the Copyright Act affords content creators and owners a wide variety of benefits under the law, and we strongly recommend evaluating whether it would be appropriate and beneficial to take advantage, including registering those rights with the U.S. Copyright Office. Registration can greatly enhance an owner's ability to prove ownership of a work, and to protect against infringement, both within the United States and abroad as part of the Berne Convention.