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American Records from 1950s to Lose Copyright in Europe
Posted by Steven Wu on Friday, January 03 @ 03:56:34 EST Copyright
As if file-sharing weren't bad enough: according to the New York Times, an entire generation of recordings from the 1950s is about to lose copyright protection in Europe, where such recordings enjoy only 50 years of protection, as compared to 95 years in the United States.

Among the recordings that will lose protection are hits from such giants as Maria Callas, Elvis Presley and Ella Fitzgerald. American recordings have actually been losing copyright protection in Europe for a very long time--but, as the article notes, the 1950s represents a much more momentous move into the public domain because that was the decade in which records and recording techology really took off.

Although American albums will still be protected, many record companies are afraid of the possibility of much cheaper imports driving down the market. This fear has led some companies (such as EMI) to ally with smaller companies that they had previously tried to shut down; other companies, however, have begun calling for customs barriers, including the seizure of any European records being imported into the United States.

 
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"User Login" | Login/Create an Account | 4 comments | Search Discussion
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Re: American Records from 1950s to Lose Copyright in Europe (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Friday, January 03 @ 13:05:32 EST
Let me get this straight.

Because of a difference in copyright terms some companies are sugesting slowing the global market to protect copyright holder's interests. That's not how it's supposed to work.


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Re: American Records from 1950s to Lose Copyright in Europe (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Friday, January 03 @ 14:04:04 EST
The NY Times quotes a representative of the RIAA as saying the import of recordings which are still copyrighted in the states would in and of itself be piracy, as would the download.

The times doesn't cite anyone outside the RIAA though to explicitly confirm or deny these claims, though. It would be my (admittedly non-expert) understanding that it would be illegal to sell such material in the states, but that it should be fine to bring it over as private property. I would think downloading tracks produced in Europe would likely also therefore be ok, though I don't know. I also wonder about mail order (ie, ordering a cd from amazon.co.uk and having them ship to a US address, as opposed to going to Europe to pick it up. Or hell, if the mail order thing doesn't fly, could they be sold at duty free shops in airports?

Can Steven Wu or any other copyright experts out there clarify?

thanks!


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Wait a minute! (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Friday, January 03 @ 14:08:53 EST
I thought the whole point (riiight) of the Sonny Bono Micky Mouse Extension Act was to synchronize our copyrights with those in Europe!

But apparently Europe didn't apply them retroactively.

Let me guess, now there will be petitions in Europe to retroactively extend the copyrights "to synchronize them with the United States".



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