The House of Lords’ decision yesterday that Matthew Fisher’s 38 year delay in claiming a share of copyright royalties should not prevent him claiming future royalties has been widely reported. See, for example the IPkat here. It is interesting therefore to focus here on how joint copyright arises, and how it came about that Fisher’s [...]
Posts Tagged ‘ownership of copyright’
Will an extension to the copyright law really benefit musicians?
Recently, the European Commission announced that it would like to extend copyright protection for performers. Currently a performer’s copyright lasts for 50 years while an author’s or composer’s copyright lasts for their lifetime plus 70 years. The proposal from the European Commission would extend the performance copyright to 95 years. This change would mean that [...]
Joint Copyright appeal favours Procol Harum
The recent ruling in the Procol Harum copyright dispute illustrates the dangers of joint copyright. It is a huge practical problem which anyone whose business involves copyright works should pay heed to. In the case it was decided that Matthew Fisher became a joint author of the musical work for the song ‘A Whiter Shade [...]
