Copyright Term extension is again on the agenda in the European parliament please contact your MEP to prevent this from happening.

A wide range of European cultural heritage is due to fall into the public domain including sound recordings from the 1960’s this would hugely enrich the cultural commons giving people the right to freely share and to recycle old cultural works into new creative projects.

The current term of copyright is 50 years. Copyright is a temporary government granted monopoly the idea being to reward the production of creative works and incentivise innovation. However culture is a conversation. The creative works we encounter and that inspire us often become as much a part of our own lives as that of the original author. The original meaning of a creative work is transformed through the process of cultural exchange and in time the works becomes a part of our broader shared cultural heritage.

The proposed copyright extension from 50 to 70 years will apply to all creative works currently under copyright. It doesn’t benefit the general public nor does it do anything to further incentivise authors to create. The only beneficiaries are the narrow interests of holders of intellectual property portfolios such as the record labels that are lobbying for this change. But what about the majority of works that are not owned by those labels? Copyright term extension will only serve to effectively lock the public out of access to the majority of their cultural heritage.

Peter Bradwell of the Open Rights Group has written an excellent post on their blog outlining the recent history of copyright extension in the EU and why its back on the agenda. He also includes valuable links to research on the issue.

“The economic evidence is stacked against the proposal. Leading IP professors, the UK government’s ‘Gowers Review’ of IP, and independent economic analysts have all said that extending the copyright term is unwise. The Financial Times labelled the proposal ‘disgraceful’ in an editorial in 2009. It will likely result in higher prices for consumers. It will benefit only a small number of artists and businesses – according to a joint academic statement, signed by 80 eminent academics, including several Nobel Laureates, 96% of the economic returns will go to the major record labels and top 20% of performers. Four leading IP professors this week argued that ‘If there was a policy designed to suppress social and commercial innovation, retrospective term extension would be your choice.’ Large chunks of our cultural history will be locked up. “

http://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/2011/copyright-term-extension-you-can-help-stop-it

Please take 5 minutes to contact your MEP and to express your concerns on the issue.