Kategorie European Commission

Last night, the trilogue negotiations on the proposed EU copyright reform were concluded. One result of these negotiations is an ancillary copyright for press publishers which is very similar to the German regulation but will cause even greater damage. This can still be prevented! Weiter

Today, the final report of the so-called Cairncross review was published. It thoroughly looks at how to sustain the production and distribution of high-quality journalism in the UK. In doing so, some interesting points regarding an ancillary copyright for press publishers are raised. Weiter

Originally, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council wanted to finalise the text of the planned Copyright Directive by the end of 2018. However, this goal was clearly missed so that negotiations were resumed last week. Weiter

The last trilogue negotiations for this year between representatives of European Parliament, European Commission and European Council took place last week. Again, an overall agreement could not be reached. Weiter

Representatives of the European Commission, the Council and the Parliament are currently negotiating a compromise solution for the new Copyright Directive. Unfortunately, it can be assumed to be certain that this Directive will contain an ancillary copyright for press publishers. However, the exact wording is not final yet. The devil is in the detail as the Parliament's proposal shows. Weiter

Back in July, the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) of the EU parliament suggested a few changes to the Commission's initial proposal for a new publisher's right. One of them is to remove the explicit exception for academic and scientific publications as found in recital 33 of the draft directive. This combined with the already extensive COM proposal would result in a tremendous threat to Open Content and Open Access publishing. Weiter

The European Commission regularly makes use of surveys to gather a wide array of opinions from various stakeholders. But when the result does not meet the preconceived view, its relevance will simply be denied, as it seems. Weiter

Last week, the European People's Party (EPP) Group in the European Parliament held an event labelled "Hearing on Copyright". One of the speakers was Giuseppe Abbamonte, the Commission's director of media policy at the DG CONNECT, who said that we might all act illegally when we share articles, as reported by Chris Spillane from POLITICO. Weiter

The only argument of the press publishers in their quest for an own ancillary right that seems reasonable to a certain degree is their call for facilitated enforcement. They bemoan that it is difficult to enforce rights against mass online piracy. If this is a factual problem it can be solved easily without even touching the matter of an ancillary copyright. Weiter

Yesterday, I was invited to speak at a public debate in the Press Club in Brussels. Main topic was the Commission’s proposal on the ancillary copyright. What I heard was a bunch of lies and a good measure of ignorance. Weiter

We have just received the draft proposal of the European Commission for a new copyright directive. It shall complement – i.e. in general not amend – other directives inter alia the InfoSoc directive from 2001. As it had to be expected from the Impact Assessment that was leaked last week, the draft reads like an answer to the wish list of the publishing industry. Here comes a first assessment. Weiter

On 24th March, the European Commission launched its public consultation on the role of publishers in the copyright value chain and on the 'panorama exception'. Looking at the wording, it provides great insight into the Commission’s plans for the upcoming copyright reform. Weiter

Several Open Letters have reached the EU Commissioners while they conduct their public consultation on the role of online platforms. The most recent originates from a group of various European publishers who speak out against an ancillary copyright for press publishers. Weiter

As part of a large coalition we have co-signed two open letters addressed to the European Commission as well as the European Parliament informing them about our concerns regarding the Commission's approach on copyright affairs. Weiter