Re: U.K. Copyright Duration

On Thu, 21 Jan 1999, Tyler Ochoa <tochoa[_at_]law.whittier.edu> wrote:
>
> 1. When did the U.K. adopt "life + 70" years?

On 29th October 1993 the European Commission adopted a directive to harmonise Member State laws on the duration of protection for copyright and related rights. (Council Directive 93/98, Official Journal (OJ) 1993 L290/9) This was introduced into UK law in The Duration of Copyright and Rights in Performance Regulations 1995. (Statutory Instrument 1995, No.3297)

> 2. Was "life + 70" retroactively applied to works that were still
> under copyright? Did it revive copyrights in works already in
> the public domain?

Yes and Yes. Works in which copyright had previously expired, but which, on July 1, 1995, were still in copyright in another EEA state, have their copyright revived for any remaining period of the extended term. Ownership is conferred in general on the owner at the date of expiry.

I have a dim memory of a case (1997) involving a new, significantly different, edition of James Joyce's "Ulysses" that had taken years of preparation on the part of the editor. Suddenly "Ulysses" was protected under copyright again and the owners would not allow the new version to be published.

Although there is a statutory licensing provision ("for a reasonable royalty") I think this case centred on the fact that the author's moral rights had been violated since the new editor had introduced punctuation to Joyce's free-flowing text. Sorry, I can't remember the name of the case.  

> 3. When did the U.K. previously adopt "life + 50"? Was it
> retroactively applied to works still under copyright? Did it
> revive copyright in works already in the public domain?

Life + 50 was adopted in the 1911 Copyright Act. Have no details to hand.

Thomas Gallagher
University of Oxford
<thomas.gallagher[_at_]st-cross.oxford.ac.uk> Received on Fri Jan 22 1999 - 11:57:36 GMT