SPIELBERG'S LAMENT.

MOTION picture industry; FILMMAKERS; MORAL rights (Copyright); ARTISTS; LOBBYING laws; SPIELBERG, Steven, 1946-; LUCAS, George, 1944-

Discusses the issue raised by artists in the U.S. film industry that stresses the moral rights of artists to the work produced by them. Efforts of film directors Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, to lobby for a federal law that guarantees the moral rights of artists; Claim of artists that regardless of who owns their work or its copyright, they have transcendental rights to its paternity and integrity; Testification of Spielberg and Lucas before a Senate subcommittee against all forms of tampering with original works of art without the permission of the artist; Information that under current law, any artist is free to negotiate such rights as part of the contract when he or she sells the work in question; Statement that artistic contracts can be modified in a way that recognizes the interests of all the parties involved: artist, owner, and public; View that a moral rights provision in American law for any sale of any art could seriously depress the market for films, fine arts, and literature.