To The Daily Telegraph
The absurdity of Maurice Ravel’s music enriching his brother’s wife’s masseuse’s husband’s second wife’s daughter exemplifies our over-generous copyright laws. The original copyright act of 1842 set the term at seven years from an author’s death. This has been extended, first to 50 years from death, then to 70. In the US, copyright is 70 years after death for works published later than 1 January 1978, and 95 years from publication for works that came out before then.

The authors do not benefit. They are dead. It’s those who have inherited the rights who enjoy the largesse – often banks, companies or unrelated individuals. One company, Chorion, until recently owned Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, Enid Blyton and others. (Christie is currently owned by Acorn Media Group; Blyton by Hachette.) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s rights have been sold more than once. Even the song Happy Birthday to You earned Warner Communications $2m a year until a ruling last year. 

Woody Guthrie expressed sense in the copyright notice for his works: “This song is copyright in US for 28 years, and anybody caught singin’ it without our permission will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don’t give a dern.” Graham Chainey, Brighton, East Sussex  May 13, 2016

It is rumored that one of the objectives of the TTIP, the so called “trade” treaty, is to extend copyrights and patent protections even further, thus entrenching the rights of rent-seekers everywhere, at our expense.