European Union seeks longer music copyrights

The European Union said on Thursday that it would seek to extend copyright protection for singers and musicians to 95 years--rather than the current 50--in a move intended to let performers receive royalty payments later in life. The proposals, made by Charlie McCreevy, the commissioner for the internal market, would extend to performers the entitlements to royalty payments already received by their counterparts in the United States, and by composers in Europe, most of whom have 70 years of copyright protection. (News.com, The Guardian, PR)