This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Verlängerte Urheberrechtsfrist für Tonaufnahmen abgelehnt

The proposal for the extension of the copyright terms for sound recordings was rejected on 27 March 2009 by COREPER, which has the task to negotiate a consensus before the EU Council of Ministers takes votes.

To the great disappointment of the recording industry, COREPER rejected the extension of the copyright term as there was no consensus of the Member States on the matter. A sufficient number of states opposed the legislative proposal to constitute a "blocking minority".

So, the European Commission's intention to extend the term from the current 50 years to 95 years, although backed by the legal affairs committee in the European Parliament is at least postponed. UK is one of the states having changed its position in this matter, having reservations to the attempts of industry lobbyists to oppose to a related retirement fund for future musicians. The British government stated having voted against the proposal because the "current text did not yet give sufficient benefit for performers." UK would be in favour of a shorter extension of up to 70 years.

"It is clear that today's outcome will not kill off the proposals to extend copyright term, but rather that member states need more time to consider that details of the proposal and reach an agreement," said John Denham, British MP, UK secretary of state for innovation.

The Featured Artists' Coalition (FAC) considers any extension of the existing rights would only benefit record companies and that at the end of the 50-year period, copyright should automatically transfer from record labels to artists. "Record companies would simply gain another 45 years of ownership, entrenching the terms of record contracts signed in an analogue age," was FAC's statement.

The FAC has set up a different set of policies on copyright and intellectual property than that of the music industry lobbying groups and has launched a "Charter for fair play". The Charter states that artists should have the "ultimate ownership of thei music" and that "rights holders should have a fiduciary duty of care to ther originator of those rights and must always explain how any agreement may affect how their work is exploited."

The coallition's opinion this will not be achieved by the extension of the copyright term but by a change in the approach of the agreements between artists and the music industry and in the up-dating of the legislation. "So we will campaign for laws, regulations, business practices and policies that protect artists' rights. We will stand up for all artists by engaging with government, music and technology companies, and collection societies. We will argue for fair play and will expose unfair practices," says the Charter.

The EU Czech presidency will continue working on the proposal in order to prepare a second reading for a possible agreement in the future.

EU governments vote against copyright extension in Brussels (1.04.2009)
http://www.openrightsgroup.org/2009/04/01/eu-governments-vote-against-...

Europe split on music copyright extension (28.03.2009)
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b1f9dd4e-1b0a-11de-8aa3-0000779fd2ac,dwp_uui...

Every Vote Counts: the EU Copyright Term Extension Battle Heats Up (30.03.2009)
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/03/every-vote-counts-eu-copyright-te...

U.K. Biz 'Disappointed' At EU Term Extension Rejection (27.03.2009)
http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3ie96e4a3e8c0...

Pop star union demands new kind of copyright extension (2.04.2009)
http://www.out-law.com//default.aspx?page=9922

FAC - A charter for fair play in the digital age
http://www.featuredartistscoalition.com/our_charter.html

EDRi-gram: Extension of copyright term postponed in the European Parliament (25.03.2008)
http://www.edri.org/edri-gram/number7.6/copyright-extension-delayed