Copyright duration on films?
- Thread starter Energize
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http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law
Films
70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last principal director, author or composer dies.
If the work is of unknown authorship: 70 years from end of the calendar year of creation, or if made available to the public in that time, 70 years from the end of the year the film was first made available.
From the first hit on Google when pasting in your thread title.
Films
70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last principal director, author or composer dies.
If the work is of unknown authorship: 70 years from end of the calendar year of creation, or if made available to the public in that time, 70 years from the end of the year the film was first made available.
From the first hit on Google when pasting in your thread title.
The problem was I was getting conflicting information, the copyright design and patents act 1988 on the opsi website says it is 50 years from publication.
I think so.
I've got a feeling there are multiple different lengths depending on when it was first made, although that may be a US thing.
Man of Honour
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There are multiple different dates depending on when the last of the principal director, author of screenplay, author of dialogue or composer of music specifically for the film dies. After the last of them to snuff it you've got 70 years from the calender year of the final one, if none of those people is known you get 70 years from the calender year of the films release.
As taken from The Duration of Copyright and Rights in Performances Regulations 1995 which is the most up to date that I know of. Which is more or less what Gilly's link says but it doesn't mention that both authors could have an impact.
More pointless eu legislation I guess. I can't believe the duration is so long, by then the directors grandkids will be dead and none of the producers family will even benefit from the copyright protection (assuming that there is anyone even alive to benefit). 
Do the publishers even give any of the profits to the producers next of kin when they have died?
I would personally have a copyright of 50 years from publication for everything, enough for the creators, children and grandchildren to benefit.
Do the publishers even give any of the profits to the producers next of kin when they have died?I would personally have a copyright of 50 years from publication for everything, enough for the creators, children and grandchildren to benefit.
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Not exactly.
They wanted to standardise it for the whole of the EU so that you knew how long you could protect your media for easily without having to check each country. Otherwise you'd have England where you could protect your film, France where you couldn't etc.. The problem was that some countries (including Germany) had life+70 where we only had life+50. They decided it was better to give some people more protection then to take it away from people (e.g. someone in Germany where the film was at the life + 60 stage would have otherwise lost their protection the day the new legislation went through).
The original idea of the duration for copyright was that it should allow the author, his child and his grandchildren to make profit from the IP. As people have lived for longer the duration of copyright has been extended. If you follow the idea through then life+60 probably makes the most sense.
I'ts Warner, actually. Though many experts have suggested it's not actually copyrighted.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1111624