[JBC] "well, it's not really my field, but..."

Jim Davies wrote ...

>More detailed second-hand legal comment. Which is what you'd get from
>anyone except an expert: most solicitors will say "well, it's not
>really my field, but..."

Alright then, I shall confess that I'm a junior lawyer in Germany who will most probably settle down in Great Britain in the foreseeable future and wouldn't mind working in the music business ... only a thought for now, since I never found the time to study any copyright law and suppose that such a career might involve a potential conflict with my musical taste. In short, "well, it's not really my field, but..."

... I consulted my statutory law book. German Copyright Law provides for a recall claim of the artist if the exploitation rights are not, or not sufficiently, performed by the (exclusive) owner. Leaving aside matters of argumentation, the artist must only impose a reasonable deadline as regards the sufficient performance of the lawfully owned exploitation rights, unless the lawful owner already refused the peformance ... whether the exploitation rights are owned "lawfully" is yet another matter, I certainly hope that Sir Pat Fish kept the contract(s) with Glass Records. Fortunately enough, the recall claim can't be ruled out by contracts for more than five years. Following the recall claim any matters of compensation would only arise if such compensation was equitable, which is pretty doubtful in our case.

GERMAN Statutory Law, I hear you say ?

I trust that said law is basically implementing international contracts and European Community directives on copyright law.

>Unfortunately, experts can be quite expensive. If there's one on the
>list, that would be great.

I'm certainly not an expert on copyright law, but I welcome my first introduction in this field. I definitely wouldn't mind taking more than the hereby invested five minutes ... naturally free of charge.

>Apologies to Pat and co. if they've already explored all of this.

Same here ... having said that, more than flattering expert's opinion on my aptitude in the field of law are available on request. §;^D

May the stars shine bright for you

Andreas

The rain it raineth on the just
And also on the unjust fella
But more upon the just because
The unjust steals the just's umbrella   

(Charles Baron Bowen)

Andreas Hering
Scheffelstrasse 14
30167 Hannover
Germany

<Andreas.Hering@stud.uni-hannover.de> Received on Fri Aug 27 14:17 PDT 1999