[pp.int.general] URGENT! Term Extension of Related Rights in Sound Recordings in EU

[Patrick Mächler aka Valio]

According to my sources the Spanish presidency intends to rush the the
proposed term extension for related rights in sound recordings into law.

The proposal has been pending with the Council of Ministers, but thus far
there was a blocking minority of states.
The music industry is lobbying hard to persuade these states to vote in
favour of the term extension.

It seems as if they have already convinced Finland and also countries like
Poland and Luxembourg may soon be ready to give in.
If they do, there will no longer be a blocking minority, which means that
the proposal is likely to be adopted soon.

If any of you has contacts at the policy level of your country, it is now
time to contact them to inform them about the absurdity of this proposal.
Also, you can contact the relevant IP body of your country (e.g. to be found
through: http://www.wipo.int/directory/en/urls.jsp ) to tell them why the
proposal for term extension is a bad idea.

The more the policymakers understand about the negative effects of a term
extension (for the public domain, but also for projects of
mass-digitization, etc.), the more chance there is that " in case of doubt "
they will vote against this proposal.

For further information about the term extension, see:
http://www.soundcopyright.eu/

-pat
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