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Re: [News] Slashdot: Microsoft-BBC Corruption Approaching Collpase?

In comp.os.linux.advocacy, [H]omer
<spam@xxxxxxx>
 wrote
on Tue, 21 Aug 2007 15:11:30 +0100
<jd8rp4-esh.ln1@xxxxxxxxxx>:
> Verily I say unto thee, that Roy Schestowitz spake thusly:
>
>> You can grab a 5-CD Sinatra collection for 5 quid if you look
>> carefully enough.
>
> Yeah well, who doesn't love the Rat Pack? Must admit I prefer the old
> stuff too (music and films) - comes from being a late child (older
> parents).
>
>> Oh! And it plays in a car stereo too. No sneaky rootkits.
>
> You mean that sneaky Sony rootkit that had no effect on GNU/Linux?
>
> The next attack vector is copyright expiration, and nefarious attempts
> to extend it beyond 50 years (U.S. only AFAICT). Of course this will
> *not* benefit the artists nor their families ("Works for Hire"
> amendment) ... just the fat-cat record execs.
>

I was under the impression that copyright is *already*
last death + 70?

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sec_17_00000302----000-.html

confirms it; this is Title 17, Chapter 3, Section 301,
paragraph (a) of the US Code (federal law, that is), which
stipulates exactly that.  (Paragraph (b) covers joint works,
hence the "last" in "last death".)

If the author is anonymous the copyright expires 120 years
after creation or 95 years after expiration, whichever
comes first, as stipulated in paragraph (c).

This is of course US only.  I can't speak regarding
copyright law in other countries.

There are issues if the work was created prior to Jan
1, 1978, which are covered in section 303.  These are
generally corrective in nature, though paragraph (b) is
interesting (and very dated; phonorecords are no longer
manufactured).

European copyright law, at least according to Wikipedia
(which gives plenty of references if one wants to follow
up), also follows the "last death + 70" rule, at least
generally, though the article does go into some very
interesting details:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_European_Union

Right of reproduction
Right of communication
Right of distribution
Right of fixation
Right of rental / right of equitable remuneration
Right of broadcasting
Right of communication to the public by satellite (??)

Color me slightly dense here, but isn't "communication
to the public by satellite" the same as "broadcasting"
to normal people?  Anyway, this gets complicated, at least
in the EU, and there might be similar gradations in
the US as well; I'd frankly have to research case law
to figure it out, and IANAL and don't do pro bono. :-)

At least, not unless it's interesting. ;-)

-- 
#191, ewill3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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