Rich Fiscus
23 Apr 2009 11:56
A proposal for extending copyright protection for sound recordings in EU member states to 70 years passed the European Parliament today. The original proposal for extending copyright for these recordings to 95 years had been approved by the European Commission and Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs, but was subsequently rejected by the Council of Permanent Representatives.
It now goes to the Council of Ministers, where it can still be rejected. Given the reported opposition by at least 11 countries (including Afterdawn's home country of Finland), voted against the proposed directive.
The extension goes against the conclusions of multiple studies which have been done on the effects of copyright term extension. Those studies overwhelmingly indicate term extension will have a neglible impact on the lives of the performers it purports to help.
On the other hand, they indicate a significant profit fot record labels, who continue to enjoy exclusive rights over decades old recordings.
If this directive is approved the next target is copyright terms for audiovisual works.