EMI chief Eric Nicoli made one last attempt to persuade those political types that they should extend the recorded music copyright earlier this week as the government's review into intellectual property, led by that Andrew Gowers bloke, prepares to formally report back next week.
As previously reported, oh so many times, lobbying by the UK record industry to have the recorded music copyright period, currently fifty years in Europe, extended to 95 years, to bring it in line with the US, has been a key issue in the debate that has accompanied Gowers' review of intellectual property laws.
Speaking at a private seminar at 11 Downing Street, Nicoli reportedly said that he felt that government officials seemed to be more sympathetic towards those that opposed such an extension, despite the fact that, in Nicoli's opinions, some of the responses to the music industry's proposals have ranged "from the irrelevant to the hysterical". All he and the UK music industry was doing, he said, was "simply asking that British performers be brought into line with other artists".
The Times says that it is thought Gowers has not been persuaded of the need for a copyright extension, adding that other key players in the record industry have not been as vocal as EMI in stressing the need for it (which I'm not sure is entirely true, but whatever). But, according to the Times, Nicoli says that without the extension there is an "anomaly that will put the UK at a disadvantage and will jeopardise future investment".
Concluding, with reference to the fact that the copyright on written works, including songs, lasts for 70 years after an author's death, he said: "Why shouldn't Paul McCartney singing 'Yesterday' be able to own his work for as long as Wayne Rooney or Jordan own their autobiographies?"