The Historical Recording Coalition for Access and Preservation (HRCAP) is an effort to create a copyright regime more conducive to both providing access to, and to preserving historic sound recordings.

The Authors Guild and Google have come to an agreement which will end their three-year-old legal stand-off. Under the terms of the settlement, which must still be approved by a federal judge, Google will pay the Authors Guild $125 Million. The Guild will use a portion of those funds to establish a Book Rights Registry, through which holders of US Copyrights can arrange to be compensated for the use of their works.

Author's Guild statement in PDF

In June, A U.S. District Court judge ruled that lawfully acquired promotional CDs could be resold under 17 USC §109. A summary with links to the opinion has been added to the Decisions section.

In addition, a summary of section 109 has been added in the Laws section.

The European Union has moved to increase their term of copyright in sound recordings from 50 to 95 years. The press release, which was released yesterday (July 16), also includes a proposal to update the copyright term in the case of co-authorship in a musical composition to 70 years following the death of the last surviving author.

Official press release

The defense has filed its answer in Cambridge University Press, et al. v. Patton, et al., claiming both sovereignty immunity and fair use. The case, the outcome of which would likely affect numerous U.S. colleges and universities, involves Georgia State University's use of electronic reserve materials.

Initial complaint
Defendants response