EU Rejects Copyright Extension... For Now
from the good-news dept
Following the recent debates on copyright extension, there's a bit of good news. It appears that the Council of the European Union rejected yet another attempt to extend the copyright on sound recordings from 50 to 95 years. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like this is (by any means) the end of such proposals. In fact, it's been made clear that this rejection is just a step in the process towards copyright extension. Of course, a bunch of recording industry lobbyists are complaining about how unfair this is, but they fail to explain how it could possibly be seen as fair to retroactively change the deal made with the public to take away the public domain. The entire purpose of copyright is to put in place a limited-time monopoly to act as incentive to create new works. Obviously, that incentive worked, or the content wouldn't have been created. Unfortunately, the recording industry now wants people to believe that copyright is some sort of welfare system for musicians, whereby they should continue getting paid for work they did over 50 years ago. It's a total distortion of the purpose of copyright law -- and one that will cost consumers dearly, and pay musicians little, but enrich the recording industry tremendously. Yet, because of some sob stories about how musicians need this, politicians across Europe have been leaping on board.
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Filed Under: copyright, copyright extension, eu, europe
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Actually, I wonder if most of the artists currently bemoaning their work passing out of copyright had even heard of the system 50 years ago.
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Surely this was crafted by someone other than MM...
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What makes you say that? I don't think it's at all debatable what the *purpose* of copyright law is, and that's all I stated there.
The question that I raise -- separately -- is whether or not it serves that purpose. I think there's tremendous evidence that it doesn't succeed, but that's not what we're discussing here. We're discussing extending it, and thus, the official purpose is quite important to lay out.
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Not at all. I'm actually making the opposite point, which I think would be clear to most people. The point is that the content was created, so no additional incentive was needed. Whether or not the content was created because of that incentive doesn't change that point. I'd argue in most cases it had nothing at all to do with that incentive, but that is meaningless in the context of copyright extension. For the purposes of the argument, "the incentive worked" (whatever it was). The content was created. So why would you add additional incentive post creation?
I didn't realize this stuff was so complex for supposed "IP lawyers" to understand. It's pretty straightforward.
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In any case, copyright serves a purpose and has managed to do fairly well for a long time. It was only when people began thinking that copyright should last for lifetimes that things began to get cheesy.
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Well - Duh
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Copyright terms
Yes, I am a patent attorney - no, I am not trying to promote more business - I simply want to see the objectives of the US Constitution realized.
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Re: Copyright terms
Obviously this is not your real name since no one by that name appears on the register at the USPTO.
If it is your real name, might I ask where it is that you practice patent law?
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