Almost seven years ago, Directive 2011/77/EU – also called the Term Extension Directive – was passed. As mentioned in the Impact Assessment that accompanied the Proposal for the Directive, its general objective was to promote music production in the EU. The Impact Assessment also referred to specific objectives, which included contributing to enhancing the welfare…

Both the US and the EU now have basic copyright terms of the life of the author plus 70 years.  But when US authors simultaneously publish in Canada, they may end up truncating their term of copyright in the EU.  Moreover, simultaneous Canadian publication decades ago could have an immediate effect on works by US…

The New Year’s festivities are just behind us and with these the celebrations around Public Domain Day 2012 that took place in different cities in and outside Europe (Warsaw, Zurich, Turin, Rome, Haifa etc.). 2012 brings with it the joy of using James Joyce’s masterpieces without asking the estate for prior authorization (which more often…