Once Again, Dead Content Creators Seem To Sign A Lot Of Pro-Stronger Copyright Petitions

from the funny-how-that-works dept

Four years ago, as the debate over copyright extension was going on in the UK, some people noticed that a petition from “artists” that was sent to the government had a bunch of signatures from artists who were dead. Apparently, they wanted copyright protection from beyond the grave. That worked so well in the UK, that it’s apparently been expanded to all of Europe. We recently noted that the pro-stronger copyright Gallo Report was approved by the EU Parliament, but now some are noticing that the petitions in favor of it, once again, appear to have included at least one dead filmmaker. Separately, some noticed that the signatures appeared to include a disproportionate number of Hungarians, so Amelia Andersdotter decided to contact a few of the Hungarian filmmakers listed as having signed the document, and they told her they never signed any such thing. Other petitions show similar oddities, including content creators who have come out in favor of file sharing and those not even in the EU. From the looks of things, there’s at least a pretty strong appearance of various industry groups simply signing the names of a long list of filmmakers and musicians to pad the listings…

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Comments on “Once Again, Dead Content Creators Seem To Sign A Lot Of Pro-Stronger Copyright Petitions”

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26 Comments
Marcus Carab (profile) says:

Is it possible that some performance rights organizations have a membership clause that allows them to sign petitions on your behalf? Or that they act as though they do? Even copyleft artists are often still members, especially those who have only recently discovered the other half of the copyright debate. The dead artists could then come down to poor record keeping in their lists, and sloppy administration like that seems right up the alley of most PROs.

TtfnJohn (profile) says:

They just know that the deceased creators would have signed the petition in a nanosecond. Trust me, they know!

They also know that half of Hungary would have signed the petition if they’d only known it was there instead of going back in their family trees to Attila the Hun.

(In fact Hungary is where Attila’s Hun’s settled after he scared the crap out of Rome.)

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re:

I wonder if dead people can create petitions too. Or maybe someone can write a petition on behalf of a dead person. It could be the petition that would be a petition that the dead person would start if s/he had been alive.

Perhaps then dead people could get their dead friends to sign it. They can start a dead persons lobby. What would it be called? The American Association of Dead Persons (AADP)?

arena (profile) says:

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An advertisement can be effective if applied correctly. The ads can be used for mini homepage. Many underestimate the real power of classified advertising, but better products on the Internet. It is not true because there are several alternatives to promote our brand, products or services. Where to learn and read what other alternatives. There are many large professional sites where you can advertise for free, because they are totally free. You do not have to worry about taxes, at least, is so important that they have set up your own advertising, specialized, and put them in the right group.

Wesley Parish (profile) says:

Any surprise?

It should come as no surprise – according to Henry Carey’s son, Henry Carey wrote a major part of “God Save The Queen” in 1745, at least a year and a half after he had died in 1743.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Carey_%28writer%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Save_the_Queen

That’s why I argue that it should be recognized as an example of the genre ghoulmusic – music to stir the ghoul!

But the woman’s got ghoul
Worth all money and gold
And all the love that I have belongs
To the woman with ghoul

The woman’s got ghoul, yeah
The woman’s got ghoul
The woman’s got ghoul

Speaking facetiously, though, shouldn’t someone in Europe take said industry groups to court for – among other things – bringing the institution of petitioning governments for redress, into disrepute? Shouldn’t someone in Europe take the various governments to court for bringing themselves into disrepute?

Anonymous Coward says:

Time for a Business Model patent

Petition Preparation and Presentation 101:

1. Get listing of all ‘living impaired’ residing in graveyard.
2. Stand in middle of graveyard and announce, I’m filling out a petition for XXX, anyone residing in these premises who doesn’t want to be included as a signor on the petition, please speak up now, or notify me after the reading.
3. Read petition and ask for any objections.
4. Sell ‘completed’ petition to organization wanting bogus results/response/etc.
5. Profit….

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