Britain’s long-awaited government report on New Media and the Creative Industries will be published tomorrow.
The document, to be issued by the House of Commons’ Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Select Committee, will recommend whether or not the current 50-year term of copyright for sound recordings should be extended.
The report follows the government-commissioned Gowers Review of intellectual property, published in Dec. 6, 2006, which recommended that the European Commission did not change the status quo, and should retain the current 50-year-term.
British industry organizations and executives condemned Gowers’ report, and vowed to continue lobbying government.
More than 4,500 British recording acts joined forces to take out a full-page advertisement in the Dec. 7 edition of London’s Financial Times newspaper, urging the government to support an extension to copyright.
Until now, the British government has not presented a strong position on the subject.
