EU Officially Seizes The Public Domain, Retroactively Extends Copyright
from the stealing-from-the-public dept
As was unfortunately expected, despite no evidence that this made any economic sense at all, the member states of the EU have agreed to retroactively extend copyright another 20 years, at which point you can expect it to be extended again (thanks to jtdeboe for sending this over). This is nothing short of governments and the entertainment industry seizing works from the public domain. As we've said before, the purpose of copyright law is to incent the creation of new works. If existing copyright law was enough to incentivize the creation at the time, then there's simply no reason to retroactively extend the law.This proposal, which various studies have shown will do little to help content creators, has been pushed for a long time by the record labels. It had been blocked in Europe for a while, but for reasons unknown, Denmark recently changed its mind, thereby enabling this effort to flat out seize material from the public.
It's especially sad that this comes just a few months after the Hargreaves report, which explicitly points out that so much policy is made without evidence -- and copyright extension is a perfect example of that. Citizens of the EU: your politicians just sold you out to the record labels, taking away content that was legally yours and no longer will be.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: copyright, copyright extension, eu
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Market keeps getting further from "perfectly competetive", doesn't it, Mike?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Market keeps getting further from "perfectly competetive", doesn't it, Mike?
The centralization of power in a 'government' is what allows 'The Rich,' really anyone with significant political influence rich or not, some 'rich' are even excluded, the freedom to go crazy. They are not really taking over so much as they're consolidating their power and they're not using 'computerized policing' as much as they're just using the same tool they've always used: powerful central governments.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Market keeps getting further from "perfectly competetive", doesn't it, Mike?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Market keeps getting further from "perfectly competetive", doesn't it, Mike?
You know how I know you didn't read the article before your usual moronic attack...?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
They will spend millions on enforcement
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
EU Officially Seizes The Public Domain
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: EU Officially Seizes The Public Domain
If the people who pass the laws are not answerable to the public, then the public is not answerable to their laws.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: EU Officially Seizes The Public Domain
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: EU Officially Seizes The Public Domain
The purpose of laws and rules is to make you think about them before you break them.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: EU Officially Seizes The Public Domain
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This is one of those moments that I have no regrets for not having respect for copyright at all.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The EU is not subject to the US constitution
Unfortunately only the US constitution says that. I don't believe many (any?) EU countries have constitutions that limit what their legislative bodies can do in quite the same way as the US does, so they can make the purpose of their copyright laws be whatever they want them to be.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The EU is not subject to the US constitution
http://www.wipo.int/copyright/en/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: The EU is not subject to the US constitution
If copyright permits companies to license the content, and make it available at a reasonable price, does that not fit the bill? Does something have to be in the public domain to get widespread, affordable access?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: The EU is not subject to the US constitution
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: The EU is not subject to the US constitution
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: The EU is not subject to the US constitution
Why copyright needs to be so long, why can it last just 10 years.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: The EU is not subject to the US constitution
about 1-2 year(s) sounds about right
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: The EU is not subject to the US constitution
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: The EU is not subject to the US constitution
Permanently extending copyright does more harm to copyright than 1,000,000 pirates. Why should we respect copyright if it lasts forever and never expires?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: The EU is not subject to the US constitution
As long as it is not in the public domain you normally have a big deadweight loss. If there is a great number of people for whom the mental/economical transaction cost of licensing is too high in the individual case then you will have a great number of cases where works of art are never used although they would have been had said works just been in the public domain.
Imagine you have a painter who has to ask for permission every time he wants to use a new color on his palette. Surely he wouldn't work very well under such circumstances.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: The EU is not subject to the US constitution
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: The EU is not subject to the US constitution
Yes. Only a handful of works get made commercially available after their initial releases. Others literally rot away in warehouses because there's no commercial incentive to release them in a new edition.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: The EU is not subject to the US constitution
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The EU is not subject to the US constitution
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The EU is not subject to the US constitution
The Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) of 1998 extended copyright terms in the United States by 20 years. Since the Copyright Act of 1976, copyright would last for the life of the author plus 50 years, or 75 years for a work of corporate authorship. The Act extended these terms to life of the author plus 70 years and for works of corporate authorship to 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication, whichever endpoint is earlier.[1] Copyright protection for works published prior to January 1, 1978, was increased by 20 years to a total of 95 years from their publication date.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: The EU is not subject to the US constitution
Eric Eldred and Larry Lessig (a hero of mine, BTW) challenged the pernicious CTEA 11 years ago in the Eldred v. Ashcroft case. Unfortunately, they lost in a 7-2 Supreme Court decision.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: The EU is not subject to the US constitution
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The EU is not subject to the US constitution
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Public who?
Who is this "Public" and why should they be enabled anyway?"
I'm certain "Public" hasn't donated lately, so why should they be considered?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Public who?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Public who?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Copyright vs Reality
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Copyright vs Reality
Since copyright only exists by consent of the public, don't be surprised when the public decides that copyright no longer serves them and they declare it null and void.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Copyright vs Reality
My view: If they can steal from the public domain, we can steal from copyright owners guilt-free.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Copyright vs Reality
now if the cost was something like ... 5-10 dollars per song/character .etc, that would actually be sane, i'd pay that
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Copyright vs Reality
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Copyright vs Reality
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Oh, that's right, the govt grants monopoly privileges over those communication channels and the privileged monopolists won't criticize laws that unfairly favor them.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Ironic.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
Reasoning: 0
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
A.K.A., TAM.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
I bet most people here could not, which indicates how much you really care about the public domain. It's all about tearing down copyright, not the actual content.
You guys are freaking amazing.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
When this is the best you can do, you might as well just quit and join our cause.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
Everything else released in the same years that were going to be PD before this extension? That would be thousands of works, so I won't list them here just because you're too stupid to consider them, or apparently believe that only 2 works were released in that 20 year period.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
WHAT WORKS?
See, my problem isn't that works are or are not going to be in the PD, it's that a bunch of people are here getting all upset about it, yet they have absolutely no idea what works are involved, likely wouldn't care, and probably have never considered to even enjoy those works.
Please tell us, in your own words, of an exact example that has happened in your personal life that this copyright extension would have harmed, where you would not have been able to do something. Please make sure to include the name of the work involved.
My guess? You can't name one.
So what I am wondering is, since this copyright extension clearly doesn't appear to cause you any problems one way or the other, why are you so upset about it?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
"Me! Me! Me!" is the battle cry of Mike's Army of Soulless Sycophants.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Therefore, you must be the same person!
...Makes about as much sense as thinking another A.C. is a "a techdirt staff member posting anonymously."
To give an answer to the original A.C.'s question:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/02/international/02CND_COPY.html
This year, it would have included "the earliest records of the rock era, including those of artists like Cliff Richard," according to this "quick quip" from VVM.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Hey, I'm over here, concerned about orphaned works and restrictions that prevent rather than encourage new works. I'm concerned about art literally disappearing because some corporation wants to carry on making money from people who died, but they want to continue profiting from their corpse.
You can keep attacking that flaky looking pirate strawman you set up over there in the corner, but it's not going to help you look like you have a real argument.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Ah, this old argument, huh? "I can't think of any answer that's acceptable to me, so nobody can". You're not only wrong, you're in your usual position, facing exactly 180 degrees from the truth, but have deluded yourself into thinking you're right.
Let's take this slowly, because it's apparently too complicated for you. The extension covers EVERYTHING produced between 50 and 70 years ago. Assuming it's immediately effective, that means that everything produced between 1941 and 1961 is affected. I'm not going sit here and list them all just because you don't have the mental capacity to work out why this is a problem.
To put it bluntly, works including the early recordings of famous artists like Elvis and the entire back catalogue of someone like Buddy Holly has been snatched from the public domain. The reason for this is simply to protect some corporate interests, and profits for people who were almost certainly not alive at the time the work was created. In the meantime, works from artists who didn't get to be as famous as those people? No commercial incentive to re-release them, and thus they are ultimately erased from history. Unacceptable.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
A number of creators will have their artworks ruined by this, or be forced to jump through countless legal hoops and fork out licencing fees for something that was legally free to use just a few days ago.
So yeah, getting raped up the ass does make you a bit sore.
So you are a anal rape apologist? Well, AC, are you?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Any time you and your ilk claim "it's for the artists", we remember shit like this and add it to the list of reasons to look for ways to avoid giving Big Content money whenever possible. That leaves us with either unauthorized content or anything that sends money directly to artists. Is that the end result you were hoping for?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Here let me advocate for legal piracy now:
http://librivox.org/
http://www.jamendo.com/
http://vodo.net/
http://www.guttenbergnj.org /
http://mimiandeunice.com/
http://www.archive.org/
You should really, really stop watching TV, movies or listening to radio that plays the MAFIAA content.
The laws don't matter what matters is what you do, if you consume that crap you are a supporter of that system and you deserve those laws, if you don't consume it and it is able to use liberal licenses then those laws don't matter either.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
It was absurd when the Nashville Songwriters Association used it and it is equally absurd when you use it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Melancholy Elephants
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I want a Git repository for the laws of the land.
I want a text editor.
and finally I want a diff to produce patches for the laws in that country.
Since politicians are incompetent it is time for the people to take matters into their own hands.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Revision control systems (which is something used daily by programmers, in fact not only them) would be so useful for keeping the laws.
Too bad nobody of the politicans even know what a revision control system is. (And why would they want it, it's not like they'd want the public to easily see the changes made over time.)
Of course somebody could replicate what they are doing in an own repo, but keeping it up to date would require some work...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Let logic dictate
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Brazil is Next to Grab
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110826/00352915694/brazil-looks-to-criminalize-ripping-cd.sht ml
Centralized Govt will ALWAYS destroy the rights of the people to enhance power.
Looks like the broken down model will hold us down for now, but the future holds freedom.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Brazil is Next to Grab
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Brazil is Next to Grab
Funnily enough, he never said it was. He's talking about something you can do with the objects you've paid for.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Brazil is Next to Grab
Please explain what is being stolen by me ripping a copy of my purchased CD?
Common sense is *not* your strong point.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What are the implications?
That's seriously wrong...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: What are the implications?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: What are the implications?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
And this is news how?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
If post-copyright business models are really the norm, and you can really make more money with them, then you have the resources and the numbers to outcompete the companies (which you so often call incompetent in every respect) that want to lock up content.
You love competition and the market. This is a competition and market for power, influence, and control. Stop whining. Start competing.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
What are you suggesting?
How can the public compete with Mr Moneybags the lobbyist and Mr Corrupt Politician?
There are also no business models to support the locked-up content. In fact an enormous amount of our intellectual culture are now going to waste, all because of the greed of a few stupid-as-fuck MAFIAA-scumbags.
Old music, books and movies that are now left rotting on shelves, because the Big Content companies feel that there's no money in restoring them, and getting a license to make a legal backup for preservation's sake are prohibitively expensive. And why? So that Disney Co can still keep the copyright on their stolen Mouse icon.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hell, Milton Friedman himself only said he would sign onto a brief in Eldred v. Ashcroft (a US supreme court case challenging the Copyright Term Extension Act, which extended the term of copyright by 20 years) on the side of Eldred (i.e. the side opposing the CTEA) if the words "No Brainer" were used.
How does it feel to be to the right of Milton freaking Friedman?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
If anyone was looking for proof of corruption in the EU
And they loudly complain and wonder why so few people trust the politicians in Brussels (and Strasbourg).
Gee, do ya think maybe because you put corporate interests before the public's?
They waste our tax-money, make up ridiculous laws that make very little sense on a national scale, they never listen to the interest of the people (apart from very few notable exceptions).
If it were up to me, we'd disband this whole European Government thing, and give the reigns back to national governments. (Not that they are much better, but at least we have a more direct influence on them, Europe is abstracted away from the people.)
I know that's very right-wing of me, even though I'm normally quite left-wing socialistic. But in the European Governments' case, it's worse than the disease it was supposed to battle.
Oh, and give me back my guilder!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Fail
I for one have almost completely stopped paying for music (own 5000+ CDs) and video (own 2500+ DVDs and Blu-rays) and turned to illegal downloads. Yes, I used to be a happy customer but this obscene quest by the copyright holders to squeeze more money out of their 'property' and to control distribution against all logic and common sense has made me say stop. They've moved beyond fairness and reasonable and into the domain of pure greed and megalomania.
No more. This ends now.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Fail
I'm getting a VPN account and getting the content I want.
Not once have the copyright shills offered to find a way to make the public happy. Extending copyright is stealing from the public for something they paid for already. Paid for many times over I might sadly add.
Why is the people of the EU allowing this to happen? Why don't they vote the bastards out of office?
Then again, Obama promised less rules and more transparency and we Americans fell for that load of crap too.
I have always felt that the content creators deserved their due compensation. But this and past actions just smacks of greed and a willingness to imprison their fan base. If we don't vote the obviously bribed officials out of office, then we deserve to be ass raped over and over again.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hmmm, this has me thinking
I might be on to something here.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
@66 AC retroactive question?
"This dossier aims at providing an overview of the presently escalating discussion taking place in Europe since 2005, about a term extension for related rights in sound recordings. Start- ing in the UK, music industry lobbyists have been pushing for years to have the term for all existing and future recordings extended by at least 20, better even by 45 years. Below fol- lows a short description of the rights in question, of the points made for and against a term extension and of the chain of events that lead to the situation where this extension might, notwithstanding a strong opposition, be actually made into EU law in September 2011."
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: @66 AC retroactive question?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hippie Crap
That's it. That's all. This "social justification" idea is a steaming pool of rancid bullshit.
There is no "public domain" from which the government has "seized" anything. Step out of the drum circle, take off your magic RFD wizard cape, and rejoin us in reality.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Hippie Crap
Not in the US, at least. The stated purpose is to "promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts". That's it. That's all. Not to "protect intellectual property". Not even "to earn money for authors". It's to promote progress.
The EU could be different, though.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. Even extending past copyrights delay their expiration thereof and concurrent entrance into the public domain. It's making sure that the public domain is retarded by 20 years and nothing enters it. That's a significant burden to society.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Hippie Crap
Not its stated purpose, and even then only for a limited time.
" The purpose is to protect the author's right to profit from his work."
If you think authors, rather than corporations who did nothing to create the work, are the ones being protected, you might need to read more.
"There is no "public domain" from which the government has "seized" anything."
If you really believe this and don't have a paycheck invested in saying this, you're rather clueless.
"Step out of the drum circle"
Also, is it just me or has the "hippy" accusation been cropping a lot of late? It's not the '60s, so such accusations do come across as rather stupid anyway, but I do find it interesting that this seems to be the troll accusation of late for those who actually dare to oppose the corporate gods they worship.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Hippie Crap
This is 100% factually wrong.
Don't believe me? Ask Congress:
...Or the Supreme court:
...Or Thomas Jefferson, the founding father (and patent worker) who helped write that clause:
It is pretty much the same in Britain (which is where the U.S. got the idea for copyright in the first place).
However, it is different in the European Union. The harmonizing of copyright law is the Berne Convention - which is utterly silent on the ultimate purpose of copyright law, but does include sections akin to Fair Use laws here in the States.
A couple of the member states have "moral rights," or droit d'auteur. Created in France, these are considered inalienable; they could not be transferred to others, e.g. publishers, even if the authors wanted to. They are limited to what we would call CC-BY: right of attribution. (That's why CC0 isn't a legal option worldwide; artists simply are not allowed by law to put their own works into the public domain.) They are also granted the right to object to derogatory treatment of their works; in the U.S., this is covered by libel and defamation laws, and are unrelated to copyright.
Economic rights - the rights granted to publishers - are separate rights, which are not "moral rights," and those are the ones that were extended.
And even in France, home of droit d'auteur, economic rights were enacted for the same purpose as U.S. and British copyrights. To quote Peter K. Yu:
So, you're pretty much wrong no matter how you look at it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
to the states enforcing their legislation
this is all about their insatiable thirst for MORE power. i say fuck them. fuck their ideas, and intentions. the more of us who openly say FUCK YOU to those 'ruling' us, the closer we get to murdering those fuckers.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Copyright is for losers.
In the end, it doesn't matter, because with proper precautions in place, the shilltards will never even know their "rights" (I use the term loosely) are being "violated". The scene has always been faster to adapt and change than the corporate world, and it always will be.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Content? Aww, please
What we're talking about is human culture -- art, music, literature, all of which got along fine for thousands of years without IP laws or record companies. What is at stake is people having possession of their own culture instead of renting it, and without giving anyone the power to take it away because of a business decision.
Art is more than something to fill up web pages. Calling it "content" just perpetuates the IP industry's own mindset of treating culture like a commodity.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Content? Aww, please
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
If they show no respect, they get none.
They clearly have no respect at all for ours as they are very happy to steal from the public domain...and all of us.
These laws are killing any remaining respect for copyright.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Exactly
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
real purpose of copyright law
It's all how you paint the picture: copyright extenders will tell you it's to "protect" works.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: real purpose of copyright law
Thus all culture will ultimately become whatever the labels/authors dictate it will be, and the rest will be lost forever.
(Oh, we still have Edison cylinder records, if anyone can find them and something to play them on. They've been donated to the public domain. Not much else has.)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Never heard of publicdomain, but...
Perhaps publicdomain should consider some sort of partnership with one of these larger content providers.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Never heard of publicdomain, but...
Perhaps publicdomain should consider some sort of partnership with one of these larger content providers.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Never heard of publicdomain, but...
Perhaps publicdomain should consider some sort of partnership with one of these larger content providers.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Never heard of publicdomain, but...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Never heard of publicdomain, but...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Never heard of publicdomain, but...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Never heard of publicdomain, but...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Never heard of publicdomain, but...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Extending copyright
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]