The recording industry has been stridently preparing for victory in their battle to double the term of sound copyright in the EU. But their campaign has hit an unexpected hitch -- individual governments among the EU member states think their demands overstep the mark.

The Committee of Permanent Representatives, or COREPER, is a closed meeting of senior officials from European Union member countries. Part of its job is to negotiate a consensus before votes are taken by senior politicians from each state at the Council of Ministers (the Council of Ministers is the voice of the national state at the EU; it shares power with the EU's own executive, the Commission, and the European Parliament).

The last COREPER meeting showed that for copyright term extension, there is no such consensus. According to reports, at least eleven countries' representatives voted against the proposal to extend sound copyright in the EU. That's enough to block the Copyright Term Extension Directive in the Council of Ministers.

The music industry is outraged. In the face of widespread economic and political opposition, they've successfully bulldozed copyright extension past the Commission and European Parliament to get this far. Lack of a clear majority at this stage demands they indulge in an unseemly scramble across Europe for the support of individual governments.

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Recording industry, true democracy rejects you. Live with it.