Well, I think that the Release The Music event last night went superbly, getting our campaign off to a flying start. Jonathan Zittrain’s keynote was great, giving a clear and concise overview of what copyright is and how we got to where we are with the current copyright term of 50 years on sound recordings. [...]

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Our Release The Music campaign is starting to get underway. Last Thursday, myself, ORG Chair Louise Ferguson, journalist Becky Hogge and lawyer Lubna Azhaar gathered at Portcullis House to give an briefing to MPs, peers and their staff. Due to Parliament being prorogued (temporarily suspended) prior to the Queen’s Speech, attendance wasn’t quite as good [...]

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I’m delighted to announce that Dave Rowntree from Blur will be taking part in our debate about the extension of the term of copyright protection for sound recordings. He’ll join Caroline Wilson from the University of Southampton, School of Law arguing against extension, and will be facing Martin Talbot, Editor of Music Week and an [...]

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If you write a music/MP3 blog, a law/copyright blog, or you are a podcaster and would like to come to the ORG press briefing on copyright term extension for sound recordings, 2pm on Monday 13th November, please contact Michael with your URL and preferred email address and we’ll send you a proper invitation with all [...]

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Should the term of copyright protection on sound recordings stay at 50 years or be extended?
This question has been hanging in the air for the last couple of years, with the music industry lobbying government for an extension on the grounds that the royalties they earn from old recordings are essential to bringing new [...]

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Shaun Woodward, Creative Industries Minister, has launched a consultation on the Creative Economy Programme draft working group proposals. The CEP - a division of the DCMS - was unveiled in November 2005 as “the first step in Government’s desire to make the UK the worlds creative hub.”
Their draft recommendations are now open for public [...]

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A transcript of James Boyle’s remarks on the public domain, copyright and Creative Commons, given at the Association of Research Libraries 146th Membership Meeting, May 26 2005. James calls for more evidence-based thinking on intellectual property issues, something that is currently sorely lacking.

Here’s another remarkable thing about intellectual property policy over the last 10 or [...]

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