IP: the Commission’s “Forward Looking Package” is not the solution

BEUC, the European Consumers’ Organisation, addressed the recent EU proposal to extend copyright protection from 50 to 95 years not only for music performers but also to record producers: "long terms of protection are counter-productive and a burden to innovation".

While BEUC, the European Consumers’ Organisation, recognizes the right for artists to a fair protection and remuneration, long terms of protection are counter-productive and a burden to innovation: more and higher license fees would increase the price of services for consumers. The adaptation of record producers to the changing business environment should not be solved at the expense of the public interest, but should rather be tackled by the interested stakeholders themselves, by working on innovative business models enabling fair remuneration for performers and musicians.

If better protection of artists is indeed needed, longer intellectual property protection is definitely not the solution. The copyright system should instead be improved, notably with clearer rules of transfer of rights to the benefit of performers.

According to Monique Goyens, BEUC Director: “We welcome the Commission initiative to launch a public consultation on the issue of copyright in the knowledge economy but the proposal to extend copyright protection from 50 to 95 years delivers the wrong message to society at a time when reasonable tariffs and conditions of access to legal and diversified content have to be encouraged”.

For more information, please visit the BEUC website.
[18/07/08]