20-Year Copyright Extensions Coming To Europe

unlametheweak points out a story at Ars Technica which begins: "After a UK government-led commission said that the current 50-year term for musical copyrights was fine, and the government last year publicly agreed that there was no need to extend the term, culture minister Andy Burnham yesterday made the logical follow-up announcement that yes, the government would now push for a 20-year extension on copyright. Turns out, it's the moral thing to do. Actually, by framing the issue as a 'moral case,' Burnham gets to sidestep the entire issue of logic. Critics have already begun to charge that he is ignoring actual evidence and the well-regarded conclusions of the Gowers Report (PDF), not to mention previous government policy. But when the issue becomes a moral one and the livelihood of aging performers is at stake, it's suddenly easier to avoid cost/benefit analysis."

Comments

I don't get it...

[TubeSteak]

Does Europe have their own version of Steamboat Willy?

Re:I don't get it...

[ciderVisor]

Does Europe have their own version of Steamboat Willy?

Yeah, over here it's called Syphilis.

Re:I don't get it...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmm, I could've sworn that the European version of Steamboat Willy involved Mickey Maus sucking a horse's dick in the steamboat's cargo hold before Pete comes down decked out in Nazi gear and then has all of the other animals lick peanut butter from his nuts. Then he rapes a French bitch.

Then Mickey shits on Minnie in the end, and she tastes tenderly the bits of nuts and corn in Mickey's scheise.

One thing that always bothered me about Steamboat Willie was the fact that Mickey, Minnie, and Pete appeared to be sentient(well, as much as niggers are, anyway) but all of the other animals were just dumb farm-beasts.

Re:I don't get it...

[unlametheweak]

Frame the issue as an emotion, not logic. Then emotion biases any interpretation of facts. Political people are very good at manipulation of peoples emotions.

It's Karma-whoring for the "real" world.

Good

[funkatron]

Anything that means that Cliff Richard and Paul McCartney don't have to release more christmas songs to get money should be welcomed.

Some folks have a moral reason for this!

[Samschnooks]

* The majority of performers could gain as little as 50 cents per year from sales related to the proposed extension, set against as much as â4m going to each major record label

I own stock in music labels you insenstive clod. Musicians get all the hotties, even when they're poor! We fat cats are, well fat and ugly, we need the money to get laid! Geeze!

* The Directive threatens to actually decrease the amount performers receive in airplay royalties in their lifetime, as payments are transferred from artists at the beginning of their careers to the estates of dead performers

Keith Richards has to make a living while he's still animate.

* The proposal to set up a fund for session musicians (who otherwise would not benefit from the term extension at all, because of the contracts they originally signed with record labels) is low on detail. Thereâ(TM)s a real risk that the small amount record labels are compelled to set aside for this fund will be swallowed by admin costs before it gets to musicians.

Secretaries have to support the illegitimate children that were fathered by the musicians they slept with when they were young and pretty. Think of the children this law would save! Just, think of the children!

See, there is a moral reason for this law!

who cares?

[mcnellis]

In other news, TPB breaks more records and piracy continues to increase. It seems the general public doesn't pay attention to this copyright BS, but they sure do know the latest popular bittorrent website! :)

Think about the authors

[jmv]

If we don't extend copyright, what incentive will dead authors have to create?

Brraaaains!

[PolygamousRanchKid]

If we don't extend copyright, what incentive will dead authors have to create?

If we don't cough up, they are going to crawl out of their graves, and look for alternative income sources.

Memo to UKGov.plc

[Rogerborg]

Nobody gives a damn. Really. We don't care. Not one bit. We don't care about the current limit, we won't care about the new one. Collect your campaign contributions, and fuck off downstairs to one of your many heavily subsidised pubs where you can light up your fags in peace, while passing laws against those same things for the rest of us. We. Just. Don't. Care.

Thoughts

[RAMMS EIN]

My first thought when reading this was:

Governments would do well to realize that the power of their laws ultimately depends on people's willingness to follow them. If the law stands in the way of having information and works of art, only lawbreakers will have said information and works of art. But, as we've seen, tightening copyright doesn't actually stop dissemination of copyrighted works much. It does create more lawbreakers on a massive scale.

Lawsuits have been brought, people arrested in the middle of the night, and little children accused of felonies, and what is the result? More dissent and more organized resistance. People getting speeding tickets may not be enough to mobilize the masses, but criminal charges being brought against their daughters for seemingly innocuous activities will get a lot of soccer moms thinking. And there are a lot of soccer moms. A lot of people will be wondering if the government is acting in their best interests when faced with the lawsuits. And once they start wondering that about copyrights, the cat is out of the bag.

The bright side of this story is that it might finally wake up the masses and give politicians who act in the public interest a better chance.