This week, the United States Supreme Court, in a long-awaited action,
ruled in favor of the home video recorder industry.
If you're one of the nine million Americans who owns a home video recorder,
this week's Supreme Court decision affects you.
A lower court had ruled that recording shows off your home TV set was a copyright violation,
but the Supreme Court overturned that.
It was a great win, not only first for the consumer,
because Hollywood really wanted a tax on VCRs and on blank tape
that would amount to hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
If the Supreme Court had ruled the other way,
anyone buying blank tapes or a new home video recorder
would have probably also had to pay a surcharge.
The motion picture industry, which would have been paid royalties from the surcharge, is the big loser.
For if what creative people produce cannot be protected,
if the value of what they have labored over and brought forth to entertain the American public
cannot be protected by copyright,
then the victim is going to be the American Republic
and the inevitability of a lessened supply of high-quality, expensive, high-budget material.
This week's Supreme Court decision is not the final word
on whether any of us will have to pay extra for new home video recorders and blank tapes.
Congress can pass new laws which specifically address modern technology in respect to copyrights.
Both sides of the royalty issue have now taken their arguments to Congress.
The motion picture industry is extremely adept at doing what they do in Congress.
They've been there an awful long time and they will continue to be there,
to quote Mr. Valenti, long after lots of others have gone home.
I think the future of creative entertainment for the American family is what is at stake here.
And that's the message that we're going to carry to the Congress.