The European Union Commission has proposed on 16 July 2008 to extend the length of the copyright on recordings to 95 years from 50 years.[1] The European Parliament modified the proposal to be 70 years instead and passed it on 23 April 2009.[2] The remaining step to this becoming law is approval by the Council of Ministers.[3]
Contents |
The stated purpose of the extension of the recording copyright term is to "bring performers' protection more in line with that already given to authors - 70 years after their death." The term in Directive 2006/116/EC[4] is 50 years after publishing the performance, or 50 years after the performance if it is not published.
The Impact of Copyright Extension for Sound Recordings in the UK (cited by the European Commission)[5] suggested that the extension to 95 years would increase revenue by £2.2 million to £34.9 million in present value terms over the next ten year. It also suggested that there would "prices of in-copyright and out-of-copyright sound recordings are not significantly different" so that consumers would not be impacted. [6]
The Gowers review of Intellectual Property stated that "is not clear that extension of term would benefit musicians and performers very much in practice."[7]
A report commissioned by the European Commission, Never Forever: Why Extending the Term of Protection for Sound Recording is a Bad Idea, concluded that the arguments for copyright extension were not convincing.[8]