Re: [ARSCLIST] EU appears likely NOT to extend sound recording co pyright terms past 50 years

["Prentice, Will" <Will.Prentice@xxxxx>]

Jon and the list,

I'm not so confident about this. On the first of January next year, the
Presley recording of "That's all right Mama" will enter the public domain in
the EU, soon to be followed by an avalanche of material which the current
owners are still profiting handsomely from.

The sound recording copyright holders have been relatively quiet until
recently, but this is now changing. A two page article in the largely
liberal Independent newspaper a couple of days ago covered this, and barely
touched on reasons why extending copyright might be bad, referring to the 50
year rule as a "quirk" and a "legal loophole".
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/news/story.jsp?story=544670

Even if you don't subscribe to the cynical theory that "the side with the
most expensive lawyer wins", it's clear that the copyright holders won't
give up easily. If they take it to court and are defeated now, I can't
imagine them sitting back and watching as the catalogues of the Beatles etc
celebrate their 50th birthdays.

Will Prentice



-----Original Message-----
From: Jon Noring [mailto:jon@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: 28 July 2004 00:19
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ARSCLIST] EU appears likely NOT to extend sound recording
copyright terms past 50 years

If the EU's stand on this is maintained, it is a victory for free and
open access to older sound recordings. Hopefully it will even lead to
pre-WWII sound recordings in the U.S. to be freed from their vaults.

See: http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blogs/bechtold/archives/002320.shtml


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