EU Commissioner Proposes 95 year Copyright

Albanach writes "The European Union Commissioner for the Internal Market has today proposed extending the copyright term for musical recordings to 95 years. He also wishes to investigate options for new levies on blank discs, data storage and music and video players to compensate artists and copyright holders for 'legal copying when listeners burn an extra version of an album to play one at home and one in the car ... People are living longer and 50 years of copyright protection no longer give lifetime income to artists who recorded hits in their late teens or early twenties, he said.'"

Comments

Sweet!

[Captain Splendid]

That clinches it, I'm moving back to Europe.

Obviously, Crack is cheaper and more plentiful over there.

Re:Sweet!

[Robber Baron]

Yeah I know I'd like to still be getting paid for work I did 20 years ago! You're still living in that house aren't you? Well I helped build it, and since you're still using it, I should still be getting paid!

Re:Sweet!

[Puk]

That clinches it, I'm moving back to Europe.

Obviously, Crack is cheaper and more plentiful over there. You missed the part where in the U.S., it's already 95 years for works for hire and lifetime of the author plus 70 years for plain old humans. If you want crack, we're your country.

-puk

Re:Sweet!

[Hoi Polloi]

Shouldn't the Egyptian government be paying royalties on pyramid tourist fees to the estate of Khufu?

Re:Sweet!

[Hoi Polloi]

You are so cynical! Don't you know that this is being done for the sake of all of the struggling individual artists and writers out there? Politicians deeply care about them. It is NOT being done for bloated corporations like Disney who themselves originally profited from the public domain. They are not constantly seeking perpetual extensions of copyright protections just to protect their cash cows.

It also being done for Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

I agree!

[Jaysyn]

I think that the government & various communications companies that I've done work for over the years should pay me for my designs & plans for 95 years after their creation. Why yes, they are works of art!

Aww, damnit.

[Penguinisto]

I'm personally hoping the make a special category for bubblegum pop music - that crap can be copyrighted for 10,000 years. Sort of like how you lock up radioactive waste based on half-life.

/P

oh well

[OrangeTide]

Not like anyone honors the copyright anyways.

Re:Trolling

[KublaiKhan]

I'm copyrighting(c) the use of the word copyright(c). Everyone who uses the word copyright(c) must put a little copyright(c) (c) after it, and give me $.05 for each instance.

I'm also copyrighting(c) the word copyleft(c), so you Gnu folks won't get away with it either.

And the copyright(c) (c) notation? Yep, copyrighting(c) that too.

This post copyright(c) me, 2008.

You FAIL

[Mr. Underbridge]

I hereby copyright Trolling. Nobody is allowed to troll without my permission. License fees start at 100 BILLION dollars.

Sorry punk. You can only copyright your own troll posts. Provided the act of trolling weren't patented, which it is, by me.

My lawyers will be in touch.

Sincerely,

Mr. Underbridge

Resident Troll

Re:Why?

[Jamu]

I think it's better for the artists if there isn't any financial incentive to see them dead.

Re:Why bother?

[noidentity]

Why bother? It's not like anything created by the current artists in their teens will still be listened to five years from now, let alone fifty...

Good point! They need to add a provision for guaranteed income even if the work isn't generating any.

95 Years Not Enough

[vacantskies9]

I mean look at Keith Richards. That will probably only be a fraction of his lifetime.