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27 March 2008 / Alex Craig
Issue: 7314 / Categories: Features , Public , Data protection , Commercial
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Life after death?

Alex Craig examines how the case of Peter Pan might impact on the future of copyright protection

“All children, except one, grow up...” This is the opening sentence of a captivating story most of us will be familiar with—the story of Peter Pan, a young boy who declined adulthood, creating his own world of Indians, pirates and fairies. Although staying safe in Never-Never Land helped him avoid entering the grown-up world, one thing that couldn’t be avoided was the inevitable expiration of copyright in the work in which he appears. On 31 December 2007 copyright in Peter Pan expired in theory, making it freely available to the general public. This would have had severe repercussions had the author, JM Barrie, not bequeathed all rights to the work to in 1929. ’s reasons are subject to some debate, but it is assumed that wanted rights in his works to pass to an organisation that would entertain and look after the one thing in life that most

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NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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