EU Extends Copyright Terms; Introduces New IP Report
Jul 18, 2008
The European Commission adopted two important copyright measures yesterday.
The first is a controversial proposal to extend the copyright protections on musical recordings from 50 years to 95 years to bring it in line with the term already offered to authors (whose works are protected for their lifetime, plus 70 years).
The initiative has been lauded by the EU's Internal Market and Services Commissioner Charlie McCreevy as a way to offer aging musicians additional income as they reach retirement. However, critics of the measure dismiss that argument as an excuse to keep copyright in the hands of recording companies.
As a compromise, the Commission approved a so-called "use it or lose it" provision that would return copyright to the performer, if after 50 years, the record producer failed to market the song again. If neither the producer nor the performer took action within that time period, it would return to the public domain.
Separately, the Commission also adopted a Green Paper on "Copyright in the Knowledge Economy" that is intended to open up debate on long-term copyright policy in areas like scientific and scholarly publishing by exploring what types of exceptions might be necessary to accommodate libraries, researchers, individuals with disabilities and others. The Commission is seeking comments on the issues discussed in the 22-page report through November 30th. To learn more, you can download the report here (the email address to submit comments is provided on the final page).
Tags:
copyright, EU, Europe, European Commission, fair use, intellectual property, oprhan works
