COMMONS AMENDMENT (Hansard, 30 October 1956)

§ LORD MANCROFT

My Lords, Amendments 34, 35 and 36 all go together and they are on the subject that we have been discussing. Subsection (6) of the clause, as drafted, carries out the recommendation of the Copyright Committee that the year from which copyright begins to run should be shown on any record for which copyright protection is claimed, so that the user may know where he stands. The Committee did not accept the contention of the gramophone industry that there was not room on the label for this extra matter. However, the industry have since represented to us, first, that long-playing records are now issued each comprising several recordings which have already been issued as shorter records, so that several dates might have to be stated in relation to one long-player, and secondly, that magnetic tapes and wires are not capable of bearing labels in the way that the conventional discs do.

Again, the situation has altered since the introduction of the Bill, because copyright in a recording now subsists for 50 and not 25 years. The original object of the subsection (to let the user know which records are out of copyright) is hence now of less importance. It is unlikely that people will wish to give public performances of 50-year-old recordings. On balance, we feel that the user will be reasonably protected if the dates appear on the container which is sold with the record—for example, the sleeve of the long-playing record. The first of these Amendments provides accordingly; the second and third are consequential. beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendments.