Tuesday 28 November 2006
Marcus: UK copyright expiration is to likely to stay at 50 years instead of being increased to nearly 100 years.
Marcus:
This is awesome news and a blow against the insidious record industry trying to create infinite copyright to greedily wring every last penny out of music that belongs in the public domain.
Marcus:
Although the BBC article sticks to quoting record industry figures shrieking about how unfair it all is - not even paying lip service to balanced reporting. Curious.
Marcus:
You have to get to the very bottom of this earlier BBC article to discover that "the British Library has opposed extending copyright, saying it would endanger the UK's national music archive." For instance.
Marcus:
Apparently "even if the artists and record groups had convinced Mr Gowers to recommend extending the copyright period the Government would have faced legal challenges for breaking with European Union Law that binds all member states to the 50-year period."
