en |    EVENTSBrussels 27.01.2009

Sound Copyright: Which way for the EU?

Conference
European Parliament - Brussels

Tuesday 27 January 2008 10:00-13:00

European Parliament - Room ASP 01E1
60, Rue Wiertz - 1047 Brussels - Belgium

PRESENTATION

With the European Parliament set to vote on whether to extend the term of copyright in sound recordings, this event looks at the significance and ramifications of this Commission proposal. Speakers will address the implications for copyright creators and users, for innovators and consumers and what it means for those aiming for a modern workable intellectual property policy.

Eva Lichtenberger, Helga Trüpel and David Hammerstein have the pleasure to invite you to a workshop on the proposal for directive aiming at extending the term of copyright. A few weeks before a crucial vote in the Legal affairs committee of the European Parliament in Brussels, and a few months before the final vote in European Parliament in Strasbourg, the "terms of extension of copyright" should not pass unnoticed.

It aims mainly at extending the copyright in sound recordings from 50 years to 95 years. The pretext is to help the artists themselves, however there is a fear that this would mainly help the big music industry which owns the rights on the songs and music and seriously harm the access to culture.  Another element is that this threatens public domain - it could sentence our cultural heritage to a commercial vacuum, preventing future artists from accessing, and being inspired by sound recordings 50 years ago.

On the economic side, it is unclear who would bear the cost of the extension, and those lobbying to extend the term of copyright have presented no evidence to demonstrate the economic benefits of such a move. What evidence that does exist shows that the economic benefit would be marginal, afforded to a handful of major labels and very few artists.

Opposition to this Directive comes from the public domains groups, the broadcasters, the Consumers (BEUC, TACD), and many high profile academics (among others Prof. Reto Hilty from the Max-Plank-Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law; Prof. Lionel Bently from the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law at the University of Cambridge; Pekka Gronow, Rufus Pollock and others)

This conference is co-organized by the Greens/EFA in the European Parliament and the Open Rights Group (http://www.openrightsgroup.org/)

Not only did we already have a major victory in ITRE committee, proposing to instead extend the term of copyright to the life of the artist, and proposing clauses to guarantee that the real beneficiary of the extension is the artist and not the music industry.

As most political groups are divided, and as the political situation in Council the situation is very complex, it is important to let as many citizens as possible know about it so that they can voice their concern and put an end to this legislation.

PROGRAMME

The conference is chaired by Eva Lichtenberger MEP, Green Member of the Committee on Legal Affairs in the European Parliament

Speakers:

• Becky Hogge, Director Open Rights Group

• Mike Collins, Session Musician and Former Representative of the Music Producers Guild

• Pekka Gronow, University of Helsinki, Finnish Broadcasting Archives Sound Archivist and Adjunct Professor of Ethnomusicology, University of Helsinki

• Ruijsenaars Heijo, Legal advisor to the European Broadcasting Union

Followed by a roundtable discussion with MEPs:

• Christopher Fjellner (EPP)

• Sharon Bowles (ALDE)

• Neena Gill (PSE)

• Helga Trüpel (Greens/EFA)

• David Hammerstein (Greens/EFA)

CONTACT AND REGISTRATION

PLEASE NOTE that registration in advance is compulsory to get access to the conference room in the European Parliament (Name, first name, birthdate, country). For security reasons, do not forget to bring your identity card or passport. Participants should present themselves at the reception desk of the Altiero Spinelli building (Rue Wiertz, 1047 Brussels). Conference documents if any will be available in the conference room.

Please send an e-mail to laurence.vandewalle@europarl.europa.eu to confirm your participation.