EU extends protection of related rights to music up to 70 years
On September 7, 2011, the key committee of the European Union voted to extend the protection of related rights for music performers up to 70 years 1 . This was the last stage that must be completed before the final approval of this decision by the EU Council of Ministers, which is likely to take place in the near future, reports the BBC .
Previous attempts to extend the duration of related rights from the current 50 years were made in 2006 and 2008, but only now they have reached their logical conclusion. I must say that this was done in a timely manner, because in 2012 it will be 50 years since the release of the first single, The Beatles (Love Me Do), after which the owners of the songs of great musicians would lose their rights to each other songs every month. Now they are guaranteed royalties up to 2032.
When it comes once again to extending the protection of related rights in the United States and the European Union, experts smile with a grin that the songs of The Beatles and Mickey Mouse will never go into the public domain. However, Mickey Mouse is also registered by Disney Corporation as a trademark in the United States, so that in any case, the corporation will remain entitled to it forever, that is, how much it wants.
A decision on a term of 70 years is a compromise, because the musicians themselves insisted on extending the period for paying royalties to 95 years.
According to critics of such a decision, this makes no sense, because it contradicts the spirit of copyright law, which should stimulate creativity and innovation. By extending the deadlines, are the authorities trying to stimulate innovation and creativity in retrospect, that is, for musicians 50 years ago?
From a different point of viewIntellectual property is the cornerstone of a post-industrial economy. In the future, when all or almost all of the physical work in the world will be performed by robots, the most valuable goods in the world economy will be digital goods protected by copyright, that is, music, films, games, software, etc. People will be engaged in the production of only such intangible goods, so that copyright is the basis for the future of human civilization.
Although, it is unlikely that current politicians look so far into the future. Most likely, their decisions are based on some other argument: they just want to level the rights of music performers with other authors, including composers and movie rights holders, to make the copyright protection system more equitable. Otherwise, it turned out that now the performers of music had the shortest period of protection of their copyright and related rights.
1 We are talking about copyright for the performance of a musical work , whereas for composers copyright for 70 years has long been valid, and this period begins to be calculated after the death of the author.
Previous attempts to extend the duration of related rights from the current 50 years were made in 2006 and 2008, but only now they have reached their logical conclusion. I must say that this was done in a timely manner, because in 2012 it will be 50 years since the release of the first single, The Beatles (Love Me Do), after which the owners of the songs of great musicians would lose their rights to each other songs every month. Now they are guaranteed royalties up to 2032.
When it comes once again to extending the protection of related rights in the United States and the European Union, experts smile with a grin that the songs of The Beatles and Mickey Mouse will never go into the public domain. However, Mickey Mouse is also registered by Disney Corporation as a trademark in the United States, so that in any case, the corporation will remain entitled to it forever, that is, how much it wants.
A decision on a term of 70 years is a compromise, because the musicians themselves insisted on extending the period for paying royalties to 95 years.
According to critics of such a decision, this makes no sense, because it contradicts the spirit of copyright law, which should stimulate creativity and innovation. By extending the deadlines, are the authorities trying to stimulate innovation and creativity in retrospect, that is, for musicians 50 years ago?
From a different point of viewIntellectual property is the cornerstone of a post-industrial economy. In the future, when all or almost all of the physical work in the world will be performed by robots, the most valuable goods in the world economy will be digital goods protected by copyright, that is, music, films, games, software, etc. People will be engaged in the production of only such intangible goods, so that copyright is the basis for the future of human civilization.
Although, it is unlikely that current politicians look so far into the future. Most likely, their decisions are based on some other argument: they just want to level the rights of music performers with other authors, including composers and movie rights holders, to make the copyright protection system more equitable. Otherwise, it turned out that now the performers of music had the shortest period of protection of their copyright and related rights.
1 We are talking about copyright for the performance of a musical work , whereas for composers copyright for 70 years has long been valid, and this period begins to be calculated after the death of the author.