EU Copyright Harmonization In the Works

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by HarryT

There is, IMHO, absolutely nothing wrong with existing copyright laws.

Harry, I do have problems with existing copyright law. And I'll sum it up quite bluntly. Non-creating entities treat copyright as perpetual real property (which it is not and never has been - not in the US <nor> in the UK <nor> anywhere else in the world). And they have the clout to (usually) get what they want. It would already be the case is the US, except our constitution <explicitly> bans time unlimited copyright. So those entities fall back on the concept of perpetually extending copyright every time it approaches expiration for the oldest items. Over and over and over.


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? 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?


As a cynic might say - follow the money. I still have a 1 oz gold saying the the EU "harmonization" is just going to be a sneak extension of the Berne convention. And that's flat out morally wrong. The purpose of copyright was to encourage the creation of new works by granting a monopoly to the individual creator(s) - and neither dead people <or> corporate entities create anything.

[HarryT]

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?

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.

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?

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.

As a cynic might say - follow the money.

I'm afraid I do think you're being a little cynical, but time will tell.

[Greg Anos]

My apologies, Harry, for being a bit grumpy. The 50 year performance copyright limit is most interesting. I would assume that the performance is still not fully into public domain due to the song writer's copyright still being life + 70 (please correct me if I'm wrong). This implies that for public domain music (i.e. most classical music), once you are past the 50 year performance limit, it would then be fully in public domain (in Britain). Has anybody started a musical equivalent of Project Gutenberg there?

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Well, I agree with Ralph Sir Edward: "Follow the money" is essentially what's put us in this mess, especially in terms of the corporate-supported revisions to extend copyright. And the money remains the sole obstacle of the "harmonization" process. I'd like to hope the EU effort is a sign of governments turning to corporations and saying, "enough is enough," and I wouldn't mind seeing it in the U.S., too.

Like so many other rules and guidelines, copyright law needs to be updated to satisfy the Global Marketplace that we all aspire to. Failure to do so will result in a situation akin to walking into a shopping mall, and needing a different currency for every individual store.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

My apologies, Harry, for being a bit grumpy. The 50 year performance copyright limit is most interesting. I would assume that the performance is still not fully into public domain due to the song writer's copyright still being life + 70 (please correct me if I'm wrong). This implies that for public domain music (i.e. most classical music), once you are past the 50 year performance limit, it would then be fully in public domain (in Britain). Has anybody started a musical equivalent of Project Gutenberg there?

There are record labels such as "Naxos" who specialise in producing low-cost CDs of old classical recordings from the 1930s and 40s which are indeed now in the public domain due to the 50 year performance copyright term.