Petition of the european audiovisual community against the proposed directive for a copyright term Extension for sound recordings.

On 23 March 2009 the European Parliament is due to vote on a Proposed Directive extending the term of copyright for sound recordings from 50 to 95 years (or perhaps 70 years). Prestigious copyright experts in Europe have strongly opposed the proposal for such a Directive. The proposal, they have explained, seeks to remove sound recordings from the public domain for another generation, ostensibly in order to benefit performers, but in reality only to allow four major multinational companies (Universal, Warner, Sony and EMI) to keep control of the valuable recordings of the 1960s. Several academic papers have demonstrated that the Directive will have an adverse impact on both the economy and culture of Europe. The public of users has also firmly rejected the proposal. Nevertheless, the legislative process has been pushed forward, and on March 23 the Directive might be approved.

If that was to happen, March 23 will be remembered as a sad date for Europe, both from a cultural and economic standpoint. This is an era of major technological change, and Europe must keep its ability to innovate and reinvent culture, it must not lock culture in the current industry structure. Sadly, the European Institutions are in this case pretending to ignore the historical evidence and adjusting to the interests of few. But the public will not be fooled. As it has been rightly pointed out, “If copyright law, cynically, departs from its purpose, piracy becomes an easy option”; which certainly is not a desirable result. We, a number of individuals and associations of the European audiovisual community, have joined in a group called “Association for Fair Audiovisual Copyright in Europe” (“A Face”). 

Our goal is that copyright remain a “fair” set of rules and not depart from its original purpose, which, in our view, is protecting the interest of right holders only to the extent a general progress of culture is assured. 
Our area of interest is the audiovisual world. In this area, we wish to represent the interests of filmmakers, audiovisual libraries and databases, educational institutions, journalists, and of anyone else agreeing with our cause. We wish to promote a dialogue between the relevant market players, so as develop best practices establishing what a “fair” copyright means, especially in the field of exceptions to copyright.

We have drafted this petition to join the cause of those who are opposing the current proposal of Directive to extend sound recordings rights, as well as to anticipate our intention to oppose any similar proposal which may be made in the future to extend copyright terms on audiovisual rights. Audiovisual rights are not covered by the currently proposed Directive, however it appears that by 2010 the European Union will consider the extension of their term. We regard the proposed Directive, and any other one based on similar principles and affecting the audiovisual world, as detrimental to the development and dissemination of European culture and economy, which are among the basic missions of the European Parliament. For this reason, we intend to actively oppose their approval and call everybody to support this cause. 

To support this cause, please send an e-mail re: "I support fair copyright" to info@aface.eu specifying your (i) name & e-mail address, (ii) country, (iii) profession, (iv) institution.