The ORG “Sound of Copyright” Conference that took place in the European Parliament last week is over, and there are concerns still, as news-mail I received today shows .

Consumer groups, musicians, academics and industry stakeholders, together with a cross party panel of MEPs, hit out at the “fairy tale” of copyright term extension at the ORG “Sound Copyright” conference in the European Parliament last week.

One by one speakers rubbished the proposal to extend copyright term as outgoing ORG Executive Director Becky Hogge pointed out that “All the evidence shows that the term extension directive will do very little and almost nothing to help the poor performer and everything to line the pockets of the world’s record labels.”

You can see the opening speeches by Becky (1) and by Pekka Gronow (2), sound archivist and professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Helsinki. Professor Gronow’s account of the conference is also available on his blog (3). We’ll update you with more video and speeches very soon.

(1) Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzcm43pABBE and Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4_t9m6tRyI
(2) Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T3D-HYnIAc and Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFtuGn2S74I
(3) http://blogit.yle.fi/node/2625

Next week the Legal Affairs (JURI) committee will likely vote to push the proposal to a full plenary vote in Parliament in March against fierce opposition (4) from the representatives of 42 consumer rights organisations (BEUC), 29 privacy and civil rights organisations (EDRI), over 650,000 library and information professionals worldwide (IFLA), ?ORG (UK), Consumer Focus (UK) and the EFF (US). ?With this in mind we urge you to contact your MEP (5) either in Brussels or at their home constituency and let them know why term extension should be rejected.

(4) http://www.openrightsgroup.org/2009/01/21/consumers-citizens-and-information-professionals-around-the-world-unite-to-condemn-copyright-extension/
(5) http://www.openrightsgroup.org/2008/10/07/make-sure-meps-hear-your-views-on-copyright-term-extension-get-in-touch-today/

MEPs are coming under increasing pressure from industry lobbyists now claiming parity with countries with longer copyright terms as a justification for term extension, despite the European Commission ?denying that ‘comparative advantage’ with longer terms was a basis for the extension (6 – See P. 11, 12.). Show your MEP our cartoon “How copyright extension in sound recordings actually works” (7) and get them to sign our petition (8) and reject copyright extension!

(6) http://www.openrightsgroup.org/uploads/commission.pdf
(7) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kijON_XODUk
(8) http://www.soundcopyright.eu/petition

IP watch covered our event (9), and Cory Doctorow writing in the Guardian (10) echoed the chorus of concern and disapproval already voiced in international press from the International Herald Tribune (11) to the Financial Times (12).

(9) http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=1403
(10) http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jan/26/cory-doctorow-copyright-law
(11) http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/24/opinion/edbaldwin.php
(12) http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ba280756-ca07-11dd-93e5-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

Our cartoon “How copyright extension in sound recordings actually works” has also been translated into French (13), Italian (14) and Spanish (15), with versions appearing on Facebook and Blip TV. Now reaching a total of 30,000 views it hit the top 10 most popular political videos in the week that Obama was elected! Tell your MEPs to reject term extension now! (16)

(13) http://www.framablog.org/index.php/post/2009/01/25/allongement-droits-artistes-musique-majors-europe
(14) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LprDgb8LFaY&feature=channel_page
(15) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gQkbwCugQdc&feature=related
(16) http://www.openrightsgroup.org/2008/10/07/make-sure-meps-hear-your-views-on-copyright-term-extension-get-in-touch-today/

If you can, try to contact your MEP and voice your concern – if you have – and urge him to represent your, the voters interest, not that of the Record Label Lobby.

What does it mean? Basically, they intend to double the term of copyright for sound recordings, extending it to 90 years – that’s about 3 generations.

That would mean that a song written in 1960 will not go into the public domain until 2040 – and you can’t make and copy your home video legally if in the background you can hear this music, for example.
Or, as is the case, you can’t get some of these legally until 2040, as about 75% of the music ever produced is not available commercially.

The Term Extension Directive has been condemned by Europe’s leading intellectual property research centres, studies proved it counterproductive and basically a bad idea.

Nonetheless, the European Parliament is going forward to vote on it – and if they have to choose between the no-name customer’s right or the recording company profits I think we can see the winner here.

Now, let me share with you an e-mail I’ve received from the Open Rights Group.

Dear Sound Copyright petitioner,
The European Parliament is set to vote on whether to double the term of copyright in sound recordings. Sound Copyright invites you to register your concern at an event on the proposed Term Extension Directive, on Tuesday 27 January 2009 in the European Parliament in Brussels:
http://soundcopyright.eventbrite.com/
This flawed Directive has been unanimously condemned by Europe’s leading intellectual property research centres. The European Parliament must address the mounting concerns of consumer groups and copyright users if they want a modern, workable intellectual property policy.? Please, if you can, come to Brussels and register your concern. If you can’t make it, please invite your MEP to attend on your behalf.

Looking forward to seeing you in Brussels,
Becky Hogge
Executive Director, Open Rights Group

===Sound Copyright News===
How you can help the campaign:

1. Come to an event on 27 January in the European Parliament in Brussels to hear academics, musicians and activists discuss the Directive with a roundtable of MEPs
   http://soundcopyright.eventbrite.com/
2. Invite your MEP to attend the 27 January event on your behalf (you can get their contact details here: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members.do)
3. Invite your MEP to sign the Sound Copyright petition
   http://www.soundcopyright.eu/petition
4. Ask your MEP to watch the Open Rights Group’s cartoon “How copyright term extension in Sound Recordings actually works”
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kijON_XODUk

===

Spread the word: How copyright term extension in sound recordings actually works
The Open Rights Group and animators Eclectech, whose work has included pieces for Friends of the Earth and No2ID in the UK, have produced a short animation explaining “How copyright term extension in Sound Recordings actually works”. Check it out at the link below and show your friends and your MEPs why term extension is a really bad idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kijON_XODUk

===
Andrew Gowers hits out at “out of tune” term extension.
The former editor of the Financial Times, Andrew Gowers, hit out at the UK Government’s? suggestion that they should consider a copyright extension as “out of tune with reality”.? Gowers original evidence-based review for the UK Government concluded against extending copyright.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ba280756-ca07-11dd-93e5-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1