Extending the term of protection for related rights endangers a valuable public domain

Recently, the European Commission announced its intention to bring forward a proposal to
extend the term of protection for related rights in phonograms (sound recordings) from 50
years to 95 years.1 This would form a serious threat to a valuable public domain. Delaying the
moment from which phonograms are released into the public domain means delaying the moment from which anyone can freely use these materials, e.g. for studies, work or leisure or
as raw materials for new creative efforts. This may create considerable costs for competition
and innovation, for consumers, and for the public at large. As a result, the balance between
protecting the rights of performers and phonograms producers (i.e. the beneficiaries of related rights) and safeguarding the interests of the public domain may be seriously disrupted.
For a term extension to be legitimate, there should be sound legal and economic reasons. Yet,
two recently conducted studies, the one performed by the Centre for Intellectual Property and
Information Law,2 the other by the Institute for Information Law,3 convincingly conclude that
an extension of the term of protection for related rights in phonograms is not advisable.
Focusing on the second study, of which the present author is one of the co-authors, this paper
will shortly discuss why a term extension of related rights would be ill-advised.

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