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Missing JAMs

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Clitheroe KidMay 3, 2012

We are obviously using the example of Australia because 'Just A Minute' is a BBC show, made in the UK, but which is currently being aired in Australia.

Regarding the Berne Convention, I disagree. The Convention harmonises the laws of all signatory nations, in effect, so that the same laws exist in England and in Australia. Signatories to the Convention agree to do this - to change their copyright laws to comply with the provisions of the Convention. It's what signing the Convention treaty is all about.

For example, the UK copyright term is 70 years, now, which the UK changed as required by the Convention. But it was previously 50 years, and in the case of Broadcast Copyright - the copyright in a broadcast - it still is 50 yrs. The Convention is really about enforcement. The two countries have the same copyright laws, those which the Convention requires them to adopt, and this makes enforcement of a copyright claim in Australia straightforward.

A 1967 broadcast of Just A Minute will enjoy copyright as a broadcast for 50 years, i.e. until 2017.

The law in Convention countries does NOT prohibit non-commercial use. But - a big but - an Australian wanting to sell CDs is not what we are discussing. I made the point about file sharing, that it is NOT a sale of the recording. The entire point of the NON-commercial exception is that where no money changes hands, i.e. in a file sharing event, that is NOT a sale of the work/recording. Where the work is given away for free, it is not a commercial use of the work, and there is accordingly no breach of copyright.

The BBC must prove, as required in the Berne Convention, that their copyright has been breached. In a claim by the BBC, they must inevitably fail if they cannot show this. Where there has not been a sale, but merely a gift, the BBC must inevitably fail on this point: for UK law, in compliance with the Convention, only prohibits commercial use - i.e. sale - of a copy, and if the file sharer has not been paid for the copy then commercial use cannot be shown.

> To: just-a-minute@...
> From: kj.naughton@...
> Date: Tue, 1 May 2012 18:57:04 +0000
> Subject: [just-a-minute] Re: Missing JAMs
>
>
>
>
> Hi folks,
>
> Just a quick point as this is a complicated area.
>
> An Australian person wanting to sell "home brew" CDs of Just A Minute in Australia needs to look to Australian law to see what is and isn't allowed. Even though JAM is a UK work, it's the law of the country where the work is being used that counts. UK law is not extra-territorial regarding copyright and, in this example, what UK law says is irrelevant, even though the work originated there.
>
> I use Australia as an example as Clitheroe Kid did below, but the principle applies to all countries that are signatories to the Berne Convention.
>
> A lot of confusion arises because there's a difference between a work receiving copyright (which does depend on the laws of the country in which it was produced) and the protection that the work receives (which depends on the law in the country where the work is being used).
>
> So to take a worked example, Let's say a radio show was broadcast in 1960 in the UK and it qualifies as a copyrighted work (i.e. it's got original work in it). And let's say the copyright expires after 50 years in the UK and 70 years in Australia. A person in the UK could therefore use legally profit from the work in the UK but it would still be illegal in Australia.
>
> Cheers
>
> kJ
>
>
>
> --- In just-a-minute@..., Clitheroe Kid <clitheroekid@...> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > Under UK law, broadcast copyright exists in a radio show under either the Copyright Act 1956 or the Act of 1988, depending on whether the broadcast in question was first aired before or after 1988.
> >
> > In the 1956 Act, there is only a prohibition on commercial use of a recording of a show, and only for 50 years. The Act does NOT prohibit non-commercial use.
> >
> > There is a campaign under way to try to get the file sharing sites to recognise that file shaing of a BBC show that was first broadcast before 1963 is not unlawdful, and that even if the episode aired after 1963 sharing it is still NOT banned by the Act unless money is paid - something which never happens in the context of file-sharing.
> >
> > You need to understand that, whatever the law might be in Australia, this is a BBC show, and the BBC is limited by the laws of England, not those of Australia. It can, under UK law, prevent commercial use of its shows, but not their non-commercial use.
> >
> > Beware of believing all the stuff on the internet about copyright law. Most of it turns out to relate to American copyright law. Very little of it applies in the UK.
>
>
>
>
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