ArsTechnica: EU adds 20 years to music copyrights

[kjk]

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/n...copyrights.ars

The Council of the European Union, where the various member state governments all have a say, voted yesterday (PDF) without discussion to increase the copyright term in sound recordings from 50 to 70 years. Small countries like Belgium, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Sweden voted against the extension, but it passed anyway.

I thought things were supposed to trend the other way? Decreasing?

The UK's Open Rights Group called the measure "a cultural disaster… Research showed that around 90 percent of the cash windfall from copyright levies will fall into the hands of record labels." The group also pointed out that the the UK's own government-commissioned reports on intellectual property had been skeptical of extending copyright protection—though there's a long history of ignoring expert opinion on this topic.

Are books next on the list for extension?

[tubemonkey]

A step in the right direction.

[Sil_liS]

I'm happy that at least my country of birth and my country of residence voted against this nonsense.

[Mike L]

And I'm happy that the country of my birth voted in favour of it.

[=X=]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

A step in the right direction.

bad monkey bad monkey

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by Mike L

And I'm happy that the country of my birth voted in favour of it.

Me too. I was really worried that Cliff Richard was going to have to go on tour in order to maintain the lifestyle to which he has become accustomed.

[jgaiser]

Of course. The perfect cure for pirating...

[Greg Anos]

They're just pikers...

In the US performance rights go through 2061...There is no public domain yet...

Just think - Edison's original patent for the phonograph ran out over 100 years ago, but his words using the first one "Mary had a little lamb" is safe from the public domain for another 50 years....

After all, he needs the money...

[afa]

Why don't they just pass a law that says copyright will last forever?

[Greg Anos]

They can't in the US. Our Constitution forbids it....(But it doesn't say how long it should be... )

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by afa

Why don't they just pass a law that says copyright will last forever?

[luqmaninbmore]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Why on earth would that be a good thing?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by luqmaninbmore

Why on earth would that be a good thing?

To me, property is property; whether it's real, personal, intellectual, or whatever. I think ownership of said property should all be treated the same.

If an author's estate loses ownership of his works 70 years after his death, then a farmer's estate should lose ownership of his farm 70 years after his death.

Any law that extends copyright is therefore a good thing.

[kartu]

German studio that owns rights on Elvis Prestley's music recently discovered that it wouldn't be able to milk that nice old cow anymore, viola and lawmakers "fix" shameless attempt of the public, to have something for free.

Good part is, it's more of a "recommendation" if am not mistaken, each country has to legislate that on its own.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Any law that extends copyright is therefore a good thing.

Let's apply this to engineering patents please. Unlike "art", many of those actually require multi-million (sometimes billion) investment.

PS
Original copyright in US was created to "temporarily award" authors to "incentify" them to create more of the stuff, that, you'd be surprised, belongs to "public domain".

[Greg Anos]

Sigh...It's not property, it's a government granted monopoly.

A completely different animal.