To Mark: If you read the directive it says that the extension will apply to
recordings which are still protected on the day the directive enters into
force (p. 14 on the directive found at the EU website). All recordings made
in 1960 are ALREADY PD, so this will not change. 1961 will become PD on Jan
1, 2012, unless the the directive has entered into force before that date,
Thw directive is of course retroactive in the sense that it applies to
recordings made before now. All recordings still protected on the day the
directive enters into force will be protected 70 years from first year of
publication, and will of course apply to future recordings.
to Steve: I am not familiar with the details of the Bear Family case. There
could also be other provisions (such as competition law, or the provisions
in EU copyright law against breaking digital anti-copying devices) which
might apply. However, inthe preparatory work to the extension directive the
EU Comission said that one of the reasons why an extension is needed is that
reissues do not cause an extension of copyright. A recordings first
published in 1959 was protected until the end of 2009. The protection of a
reissue published in 2005 would end on the same date, regardless of the work
Pekka
2011/9/23 Steven Smolian <[log in to unmask]>
> Thank you, Pekka.
>
> It appears, then, that early Elvis is PD but not the Beatles. All mono only
> recordings should be free as well as early stereo. 78 to CD reissues, even
> watermarked ones, are PD which undoes the protection Bear Family had as a
> result of the favorable decision (to them) of the suit cited earlier. Is
> that your reading as well?
>
> Steve Smolian
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Pekka Gronow
> Sent: Friday, September 23, 2011 4:51 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [ARSCLIST] Copyright extension in EU
>
> This is just a clarification to some recent discussions on copyright in
> Europe.
> The EU finally passed the 20-year extension (from 50 to 70) of copyright on
> sound recordings a few weeks ago I have not yet had time to figure out when
> this will enter into force - prrobably 1.1.2012 (this is written in the
> text
> but you need a lot of legalese to find it).
>
> The extension is NOT retroactive. All recordings which are in public domain
> in Europe today will remain so forever (or until the next directive). A
> European record company can still reissue any recording first published in
> 1945, or even in 1960, as long as they pay the standard mechanical royalty
> to the composers. It is possible to use any prior publication as the source
> of the reissue - the original shellac, a vinyl reissue, or even a recent CD
> reissue. A restoration does not create a new copyright under the directive,
> unless new sounds have been added (a new band behind Caruso). This was
> actually one of the reasons presented by the EU Commission for the need of
> a
> directive. It would also apply to reissuing US recordings in Europe, but in
> the USA the law is of course different. Pre-1960 European recordings may
> well be protected in the USA (Naxos decision).
>
> The full text can be found at
>
>
> http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/copyright/term-protection/term-protectio
> n_en.htm
>
> Pekka
>
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