European Copyrights Expiring on Recordings From 1950's

The New York Times ^ | 1/2/2003 | Anthony Tommasini

[quebecois]

If the recording industry is squawking now, just wait another 10 years when the music from the 60's goes public. How much did Michael Jackson pay for all of the Beatle's music? The clock is ticking on that freak's investment.

[SauronOfMordor]

The copyright expiration would also apply to movies. I would bet that there are lots of movie reels (including American-made) from the 50's and earlier in Europe, just ripe for being put on DVD (or onto a server for Internet download in these days of high-speed Internet links)

[zeugma]

Indeed. There are a lot of movies from before the 50s that are disintegrating as we speak because the 'entertainment' industry wants to hold onto things forever. They'd rather have a box of dust than allow anyone with an interest do something with this stuff. Copyright should be less than 25 years. This life+70 thing is outrageous and I pray that the supreme court finds the sanity to say so in a clear and distinct manner.