Re: Constitutional Challenge to (C) Code

On Wed, 1 Apr 1998, Peter Groves <petergroves[_at_]compuserve.com> wrote:
>
> Actually, Berne stipulates _life of the author_ plus fifty years, not
> 50 years, period. Why the Germans settled on 70 years pma is a mystery
> to me: why we (and the rest of the EC) followed suit is a rather
> complicated story, but basically it turns on the fact that the EC Treaty
> stipulates that nothing done under it can interfere with property rights
> granted by national law - including IP rights - and harmonisation at a
> level lower than the German term would deprive authors of rights in
> Germany.
>
> Perhaps someone could explain why Germany went for the longer term
> (perhaps someone already has and I missed it in this thread). I hope
> it's a more convincing reason than the author plus two generations
> argument.

As a disclaimer, I am not historian. Here is what Mr. Paine, a lawyer for Wheaton in Wheaton v. Peters, said:

          ... In Germany, where a free, perpetual copyright exists,
          books are cheaper than any where else in the world. ...
          (33 U.S. Reports, also known as 8 Peters, 519 or 616)

(I am not sure which page is correct.)

My guess is that Germany's current term, which is life+70, is a residue from the perpetual copyright that existed in Germany in 1800's. Again, it is just a guess.

Joseph Pietro Riolo
<riolo[_at_]voicenet.com> Received on Sun Apr 05 1998 - 23:19:53 GMT