Of course, this has been mumbled, moaned about and alluded to for decades on the folk scene, but for fear of litigation from the dread individual at the centre of it, not much of the case has appeared in public print.
That makes it both very interesting and very satisfying that the appalling situation with an important part of the back catalogue of Nic Jones' has now been brought to the forefront of attention in the Films & Music section of today's The Guardian and on-line at http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/bob-stanley .
In an article headlined:-

Copyright extension: good for Cliff and the Beatles, bad for the little guys?

and sub-headed:-

The extension in copyright law is hailed as a victory for musicians. But while it will surely benefit Cliff, the Beatles et al, it will close doors for a lot of minor stars

The article is by Bob Stanley and it exposes the situation. All credit to him for writing this.
Here is the section that pertains to Nic; it so important, that we will have it in red:-

When you hear Jools Holland claiming "artists put their hearts and souls into creating music, and it is only fair that they are recompensed in line with the rest of Europe - it's important that creators get paid for the work they do", you wonder if he has ever asked his accountant about Squeeze royalties, or never encountered a musician who has been screwed over by his label.
Maybe Jools should speak to Nic Jones. His 1980 album Penguin Eggs was voted second-best folk album of all time by listeners of Mike Harding's Radio 2 show. In 1982 Jones was almost killed in a car crash, and was so badly injured he has found it almost impossible to play the guitar or fiddle since. Income from his old albums would have been welcome but, because Jones doesn't own the recordings, he has received nothing. His first three albums were recorded for Bill Leader's Trailer label which, after it went bankrupt, was bought by a company called Celtic Music. Celtic Music's owner Dave Bulmer has sat on the entire Trailer catalogue - outside of Topic, the most significant British folk label of the 1970s -with only the occasional record sneaking out. Why? He could be holding out for a folk revival during which he could sell the label on and make the proverbial killing. Whatever the reason, Jones could do with the income from reissues of his albums.
The copyright laws, as they stood, meant Jones's first two albums would have become public domain within 10 years time - at which point he could have reissued them himself. They would have belonged to the public. Instead, as part of the Trailer catalogue, they will stay in the hands of Dave Bulmer for another 30 years. It's hard to tally this with Nevrkla's claim that the change will benefit "the whole community of recording artists, orchestral players, session musicians, backing singers and other performers ... which is so important, especially when those individuals reach ripe old age".

Perhaps it is worth making it totally clear that Penguin Eggs in on Topic and is not the target of this article.
It is also worth pointing out that though Nic is perhaps the most needy person affected by this, that many others badly affected. My own observation would be that Barry Dransfield, for instance, is not in the healthiest of financial positions.