Whilst carrying out some research for a newsletter which I compile for JISC, I came across the following news item, the full implication of which is pretty mind-blowing......
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7074786.stmA Canadian music site hosting thousands of out of copyright music scores and employing next generation technologies, has been forced to shut down. Although the site was compliant with copyright in Canada, where the duration of copyright is lifetime plus 50 years, the extra 20 years of copyright protection offered by European countries, the US etc (where copyright lasts for lifetime plus 70 years) meant that whilst the site was legal in Canada, Universal Edition, a music publisher maintained that it infringed copyright elsewhere.
“If Universal Edition is correct, then the public domain becomes an offline concept, since posting works online would immediately result in the longest copyright term applying on a global basis. Moreover, there are even broader implications for online businesses. According to Universal Edition, businesses must comply both with their local laws and with the requirements of any other jurisdiction where their site is accessible - in other words, the laws of virtually every country on earth.”
