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Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward
Yes, The UK voted down an extension of copyright. But let me ask you a question. Why was it being considered in the first place? Was there a huge groundswell for more restrictive copyright?
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This was, I believe, specifically a request for an extension of the 50 year copyright on
performances. The reason it was being considered was that some still "big name" pop stars who started making records in the 1950s (eg Cliff Richards) are facing having their early records enter the public domain, and they tried (unsuccessfully) to prevent this from happening.
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And let me ask another question. Why are the Brussel bureaucrats suddenly look at "harmonizing" copyrights for the EU? And a third question, if the EU were to extend copyright for all the EU, would not Britain be required to enforce EU regulations, even though the UK law was less restrictive?
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The reason, as I understand it, is that not all EU countries fully implement the EU copyright directive (the UK does). They wish to unify copyright laws across the EU to make it a lot easier for EU-wide contracts, etc, to be drawn up, rather than face the current nightmare of having to deal with different laws in each of the 25 member states of the EU.
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As a cynic might say - follow the money.
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I'm afraid I do think you're being a little cynical, but time will tell.