Err, sorry about this, but Dame Vera doesn\’t have a leg to stand on here.
The 91-year-old is said to be \’furious\’ after the BNP used the song, and another of her classics \’All Alone in Vienna\’, on the CD.
The \’White Cliffs of Dover\’ album, which sells for £4.95 and features a Spitfire on the front, states \’Vera Lynn, Glen Miller and others produced the music by which the English-speaking world went to war from 1939 to 1945.
\’Here, recaptured in re-mastered glory, are the songs the soldiers sang from the deserts of North Africa to the beaches of Normandy. An unforgettable trip down memory lane.\’
But Dame Vera has told her solicitor that the BNP had not approached her for approval for using two of her most famous songs on the album – proceeds of which help boost the BNP\’s coffers.
Dame Vera Lynn, who lives in Ditchling, East Sussex, is in talks with her legal team about the album which is on sale at Excalibur – the BNP\’s trading arm.
Mechanical copyrights last 50 years (at least until the EU passes their entirely stupid extension of them).
Thus the recordings are public domain and anyone can package them up and sell them as they wish.
Songwriting royalties are a little different, as they last 70 years (I think that\’s still right) after the death of the author.
But the recordings? Public domain. Nothing anyone can do about stopping the BNP or anyone else from selling them. And rightly so, for that\’s what public domain means.
You get copyright for a limited period to encourage you to create. Then anyone can use it.
Moral Rights.
“Err, sorry about this, but Dame Vera doesn’t have a leg to stand on here.”
I see this more as her attempt at damage limitation, in case anyone got the idea she supported them: ‘Ooh, no, I’m very cross about it too….’
So someone who dislikes the BNP could buy a cd and sell copies?
She could put together a CD with the same tracks on it, sell it for £3.95 and donate the profits to her favourite charity; WWII veteran groups perhaps. Something like this would get plenty of free publicity!
From what I have read, the BNP is just retailing a CD which is available from other commercial outlets, such as Amazon, with the same tracks, and cover design.
What is more, if the BNP were to put together a British Nationalist CD, it probably wouldn’t feature much stuff by Irving Berlin, Glenn Miller, and the bloody Andrews Sisters….
There are also doit moral which might still be in operation.
Chris H has the wright idea. I feel Dame Vera should have the copyrights util she leaves us.