New interests in old issues: Antiprotection and the end of the manufacturing clause of the U.S. copyright law

The manufacturing clause of the U.S. copyright law, which prohibited the import of most books by U.S. authors that were not printed in the United State or Canada, expired on July 1, 1986. It expired despite initial congressional support and strong efforts by printing industry and union interests to expand its scope and make it permanent. The expiration occurred largely because of the emergence of new interests: industries whose exports were threatened by possible European Community retaliation and those concerned about international property rights issues. Those groups joined forces with top officials of the Reagan administration to gain the expiration of the clause. The analyses and conclusions of this paper are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the Department of Commerce or the U.S. Government.