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The North American Free Trade Agreement, known as NAFTA, is currently being negotiated between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Copyright law, the single most important tool in protecting the rights and livelihoods of millions of creatives across the country, looks to be on the negotiating table. 

LOS ANGELES and WASHINGTON, DC – A petition sponsored by CreativeFuture, a coalition of more than 520 companies and organizations from across the creative industries, and USAlliance For Music, a group representing virtually the entire U.S. music industry, has grown to over 75,000 signatures in support of strong copyright protections remaining a key element in any renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement – an addition of more than 25,000 signatures in just the last month alone.

The petition (view here) explains that “the creative communities cannot afford to risk the jobs of millions of Americans by allowing weak provisions to enter a trade agreement that will define American exports for decades to come.”

CreativeFuture CEO Ruth Vitale said, “As our petition continues to grow with more voices joining our effort, it is more important than ever that the Administration maintain its resolve and resist calls to erode the rights of American creatives. The intellectual property portion will soon be on the negotiating table, and we must demand that strong intellectual property protections, consistent with previous trade agreements, remain strong and present in NAFTA.”

Said USAlliance For Music Executive Director Michel Kains, “The addition of more than 25,000 signatures in just the last few weeks sends a clear message from U.S. creators to Ambassador Lighthizer: the inclusion of current safe harbor language in the new NAFTA would only serve to weaken the creative economy and be an early Christmas gift to gigantic tech companies like Google looking for government subsidies. U.S. negotiators should not ignore the loud chorus of voices urging proper protections for American creators. Let’s do better for them.”

Vitale added, “Limiting the property rights of U.S. creatives under the guise of “balance” means foreign companies can use U.S. creative property without any payment to U.S. rights holders. This is no way to conduct a negotiation. Instead, it’s a great way to grow our trade deficit on the back of the creative communities!”

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ABOUT CREATIVEFUTURE

CreativeFuture is a nonprofit coalition of more than 520 companies and organizations and more than 150,000 individuals – from film, television, music, book publishing, photography, and other creative industries. We’re mobilizing our members to speak up about the value of creativity, the importance of copyright in protecting creativity, and the massive harm caused by the global theft of our creative works. Millions of creatives and thousands of businesses around the world depend on copyright to bring all of us countless moments of inspiration, learning, and joy. Our mission is to advocate for strong but appropriate copyright protections and to empower creatives to speak out against piracy and how it affects their ability to create and to make a living. To learn more, visit www.creativefuture.org.

ABOUT THE USALLIANCE FOR MUSIC

The USAlliance For Music is an initiative by music organizations representing the overwhelming majority of US music right owners, songwriters, recording artists, record companies, music publishers, managers and copyright collecting societies, to present their united view on specific issues of copyright protection for musical works and sound recordings to governments.