Equity demands European Commission extends copyright protection to actors

Published Thursday 16 October 2008 at 15:45 by Lalayn Baluch

Equity is lobbying the European Commission to include television and film actors in proposals to double the term of copyright protection for performers.

Earlier this year, a draft directive from the EC recommended that the term of protection for performers - such as musicians - be increased from 50 to 95 years.

However, this only related to people involved in sound recordings and not audiovisual work.

Now in a report to the EC, Equity has branded the move “discriminatory and unfair”, claiming the distinction between the two forms of recordings is “inequitable and illogical”.

It is calling for an urgent amendment to the directive.

The report states: “Much attention has been focused upon the plight of musicians who lose income from royalties linked to exploitation of commercial sound recordings after 50 years.

“However, little attention has been paid to the plight of performers who appear in film and television productions and who lose out after 50 years.

“In both film and television and the music industry, the ability to exploit archival material is growing rapidly due to the application of digital technologies of reproduction and distribution.

“Film and television performers are just as reliant upon receiving fair payment for the exploitation of their work as musicians - and an individual’s position in their industry is just as precarious.”

According to the trade union, longer life expectancy means that the current 50-year term of protection is not long enough, and without an extension, ageing performers of audiovisual work - such as actors in sixties TV shows The Avengers and The Saint - will miss out on necessary income in their old age.

Under the existing laws, the copyright of a film expires 70 years after its last key contributor dies.

This includes authors of screenplays and principal directors, but not performers. Equity is arguing that actors should be recognised fully alongside other creatives.

Equity research and parliamentary affairs officer Matt Payton told The Stage that the trade union “absolutely” backed the music industry’s campaign for an extension, but said that it was now time to argue the parity between sound and audiovisual recordings.

He added: “We’ve supported the argument for sound recordings because it doesn’t just affect session musicians, but some of our members who are singers and featured artists.

“It doesn’t make sense for the same performance to have a different terms of protection.

“For example, you can have an opera or rock concert that is recorded - if you extended the term for sound recordings, then that would have 95 years protection, but a DVD of the same performance could expire after 50 years.

“That doesn’t make sense to us. We think they should be treated equally.”

Payton believes that such an extension will reap benefits for both individual performers and the UK’s creative economy.

This week, Equity is meeting with representatives of the UK Intellectual Property Office to push the campaign forward.