Die Online-Nachrichtenseite DerStandard.at hat mit dem Geschäftsführer der Hamburger Wochenzeitung "Die Zeit" Rainer Esser unter anderem über Google, Facebook und das Leistungsschutzrecht gesprochen. Weiter

Frankreich wird demnächst ein Leistungsschutzrecht für Presseverleger einführen. Google hat nun angekündigt, standardmäßig keine Snippets mehr bei der Suche anzuzeigen. Verlage können dies aber eigenhändig anpassen. Weiter

In Germany, the ancillary copyright for press publishers came into force on 1 August 2013. Today, after just over six years, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has declared it inapplicable with retroactive effect. The reason is an error in the legislative process that was widely known.

Background of the ECJ Ruling

The ancillary copyright was supposed to give press publishers the opportunity to demand providers of search engines and news aggregators to pay licence fees when they display press articles. There was controversy over the extent to which mere text snippets and thumbnails are subject to licensing. The reason for the dispute is an exception in the law for "single words or smallest text excerpts". Up until today, nobody can say with certainty what this means.

Google, in any case, did not see itself obliged to pay. The collecting society VG Media, which exercises the press publishers' ancillary copyright, had a different view. They fought their dispute in several (court) proceedings, some of which were conducted in parallel, including before the Berlin Regional Court (LG Berlin).

There, the question to be decided was actually whether Google had to pay for displaying snippets. For the LG, however, this question was only of secondary significance because it saw a very fundamental problem.

Failure to Comply with Duty of Notification

The EU Directive 98/48/EC stipulates (in simplified terms) that new laws of the Member States containing "technical regulations" aimed at online services must be notified to the EU Commission before they are adopted. If this is not done, the laws are not applicable, there is a risk of infringement proceedings against the member state and legislative proposals may have to be repeated. One could say that if a law subject to notification is not notified, the law in fact does not exist.

The Berlin Regional Court considered this to be the case for the ancillary copyright law. However, it did not want to make the decision itself, but left it to the ECJ in May 2017 for final clarification. After more than two years, the ECJ has now confirmed the opinion of the LG: The German ancillary copyright for press publishers should have been submitted to the EU Commission before it came into force. This had not happened.

That is why the ECJ ruled today:

A German provision prohibiting internet search engines from using newspaper or magazine snippets without the publisher’s authorisation must be disregarded in the absence of its prior notification to the Commission.

The law introducing the ancillary copyright is a "technical regulation" subject to notification because:

That provision specifically targets the services in question since it appears that its main aim and object was to protect publishers of newspapers and magazines against copyright infringements by online search engines. In that context, protection appears to have been considered necessary only for systematic infringements of works of online publishers by information society service providers.

No Surprise

Predicting ECJ rulings is not an easy task. Nevertheless, this ruling was by no means surprising. During the legislative process, Prof. Dr. Thomas Hoeren of the University of Münster, for example, had stated in an expert opinion that the duty of notification applies. He was not alone in his opinion.

Internal Ministry mails prove that further legal opinions came to the same result. In addition, it is revealed that the EU Commission had expressly pointed out a possible notification obligation to the competent Federal Ministry of Justice (BMJ). The Federal Ministry of Economics wanted to fulfil this obligation but had no power of decision. This was the responsibility of the BMJ which ultimately refrained from a notification in order to pass the law before the upcoming federal elections.

This brings the ancillary copyright full circle: a poorly written and harmful law is now inapplicable due to a deliberately accepted error in the legislative procedure that could have easily been avoided.

The Consequences of the Ruling

The ancillary copyright for press publishers is not applicable. This has retroactive effect to the date of its entry into force on 1 August 2013 not only for the proceedings before the LG Berlin but altogether. It therefore no longer exists in practice.

Press publishers or the VG Media will therefore no longer assert any claims under this ancillary copyright. Otherwise, the providers of search engines and news aggregators could react with a simple reference to the inapplicability. If they have already made payments, they can now reclaim them.

The press publishers have not only not generated any income with their ancillary copyright, they are paying extra. Apart from expenses for years of lobbying, they have to bear all their legal costs. In the case of the VG Media, this means a minimum of ten million Euros. On top of this are the lawyer's fees Google has incurred.

The law was supposed to be a gift to the German publishing houses. This gift has now turned out to be a Trojan horse. But it is possible that the last word has not yet been spoken. Maybe the publishers will try to make the legislator responsible for the costs incurred and claim them back as damages. Then the taxpayers would ultimately pay the price for all this madness although it was the publishers themselves who lobbied massively for the ancillary copyright and could not get it fast enough.

For many small providers of search engines and news aggregators the verdict comes much too late. Since they were unable to pay the demanded licensing fees and a lawsuit would have been too costly for them, they had either limited their services or cancelled them completely. This was eventually at the expense of small publishers. They heavily rely on readers being redirected to their online services.

Looking into the Future

The ECJ has exclusively addressed formal aspects of the ancillary copyright for press publishers. It did not comment on any substantive issues. Thus, the decision does not affect the ancillary copyright for press publishers as provided in the adopted Copyright Directive.

Therefore, at the end of the day, the ruling is cold comfort. The German legislator has to implement the Directive and will introduce a new law that contains an ancillary copyright for press publishers – with all the negative effects that countless experts have predicted and which we have been able to observe for years in the "German test laboratory".

Am 1. August 2013 ist in Deutschland das Leistungsschutzrecht für Presseverleger in Kraft getreten. Heute, nach etwas mehr als sechs Jahren, hat es der Europäische Gerichtshof (EuGH) für nicht anwendbar erklärt – und zwar rückwirkend. Grund ist ein Fehler im Gesetzgebungsverfahren, der allen bekannt war. Weiter

Die "Informations- und Aufklärungsoffensive" der Verwertungsgesellschaft (VG) Media ist vergangene Woche gestartet. Doch mehrere der sog. "Initiatoren" scheinen überrascht von den bisher getätigten Aussagen zu sein. Sie haben sich von der Kampagne distanziert und ihren Rückzug erklärt. Weiter

Am vergangenen Sonntag hat die Verwertungsgesellschaft (VG) Media den internen Startschuss für eine großangelegte Kampagne in Presse, Radio und TV gegeben. Im eigenen Interesse will man Stimmung machen gegen die großen Digitalkonzerne Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple und Microsoft, um damit politische Einflussnahme auszuüben. Weiter

Article 17 of the new EU Copyright Directive tightens the liability of platform providers such as Youtube. Creative content from legal grey areas might disappear from the net. This especially applies to gaming videos such as Let's Plays or Walkthroughs. Weiter

Artikel 17 der neuen EU-Urheberrechtsrichtlinie verschärft die Haftung von Plattformanbietern wie Youtube. Viele kreative Inhalte aus rechtlichen Grauzonen drohen dadurch aus dem Netz zu verschwinden. Das betrifft auch und vor allem Gaming-Videos wie Let’s Plays oder Walkthroughs. Weiter

The new EU Copyright Directive entered into force on 6 June 2019. From that date on, Member States will have exactly two years to transpose all requirements into their national law. A roundtable will help to curb legislative solo attempts. Weiter

Ein US-Verlegerverband behauptete kürzlich, Google würde angeblich mit Nachrichten Milliardenumsätze einfahren. Eine umfangreiche Analyse des SEO-Anbieters Sistrix präsentiert nun ganz andere Zahlen. Demnach seien journalistische Inhalte für Google häufig irrelevant. Weiter

Die neue EU-Urheberrechtsrichtlinie ist am 6. Juni 2019 in Kraft getreten. Von diesem Tag an haben die Mitgliedstaaten genau zwei Jahre Zeit, alle Vorgaben in ihr nationales Recht umzusetzen. Ein Roundtable soll dabei helfen, gesetzgeberische Alleingänge einzudämmen. Weiter

According to a study by the US publishers' association News Media Alliance, in 2018 alone Google generated revenues of 4.7 billion US-dollars from news content without paying for it. According to the publishers, this has to change in the future. Weiter

Laut einer Studie des US-Verlegerverbands News Media Alliance habe Google allein im Jahr 2018 einen Umsatz von 4,7 Milliarden US-Dollar mit Verlagsinhalten erwirtschaftet, ohne dafür zu zahlen. Das solle sich in Zukunft ändern. Weiter

The controversial EU directive on copyright reform has been adopted. On April 15, 2019, the majority of EU member states voted in favour of the directive. Germany additionally submitted a protocol declaration. Weiter

Die umstrittene EU-Richtlinie zur Reform des Urheberrechts ist beschlossen worden. Am 15. April 2019 stimmten die EU-Mitgliedsstaaten mehrheitlich dafür. Deutschland gab zusätzlich eine Protokollerklärung ab. Weiter

Das Europäische Parlament hat der neuen Richtlinie zum Urheberrecht zugestimmt und am kommenden Montag wird der Europäische Rat es ihm wohl gleichtun. Trotzdem setzt Mathias Döpfner, Vorstandschef des Axel-Springer-Verlags, seine Lügenkampagne unverändert fort. Weiter

Today, the Members of the European Parliament voted in favour of the copyright reform – including the obligation for upload filters and an ancillary copyright for press publishers. Weiter

Heute haben die Mitglieder des Europäischen Parlaments für die Urheberrechtsreform gestimmt – inklusive der Pflicht zu Upload-Filtern und einem Leistungsschutzrecht für Presseverleger. Weiter

Es scheint, als wäre der Protest der vergangenen Wochen doch nicht unbemerkt an der CDU vorbeigezogen. Zu den richtigen Schlüssen ist man gleichwohl nicht gekommen. Denn anstatt sich für eine Überarbeitung der geplanten Urheberrechtsrichtlinie einzusetzen, versucht man die Gemüter mit einem deutschen Alleingang zu beruhigen. Ein leicht durchschaubares Manöver. Weiter

The way is clear for the final vote of the European Parliament on the copyright reform. On 27 February, a majority of its Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) voted in favour of the negotiated compromise. However, EU citizens' criticism of the plan is growing louder and louder - just before the European elections. Weiter

Der Weg für die finale Abstimmung des Europäischen Parlaments über die Urheberrechtsreform ist frei. Am 27. Februar hat dessen Rechtsausschuss (JURI) mehrheitlich für den ausgehandelten Kompromiss gestimmt. Die Kritik am Vorhaben seitens der EU-Bürgerinngen und EU-Bürger wird allerdings immer lauter – und das kurz vor der Europawahl. Weiter

On Wednesday, government representatives of the EU member states approved the compromise on the Copyright Directive in the Council of Ministers. The reform has thus taken another hurdle. But the big showdown is still to come. Weiter

Regierungsvertreter der EU-Mitgliedstaaten haben am vergangenen Mittwoch im Ministerrat dem Kompromiss zur Urheberrechtsrichtlinie zugestimmt. Damit hat die Reform eine weitere Hürde genommen. Der große Showdown steht aber noch bevor. Weiter

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

Gestern Nacht wurden die Trilog-Verhandlungen zur geplanten EU-Urheberrechtsreform abgeschlossen. Herausgekommen ist dabei unter anderem ein Leistungsschutzrecht für Presseverleger, das große Ähnlichkeit zur deutschen Regelung hat, aber noch größeren Schaden anrichten wird. Noch kann dies verhindert werden! 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

The Romanian Council Presidency still tries to reach a compromise with the Member States on the planned directive on copyright reform. Meanwhile, more and more influential rightholders are now denying their support, putting additional pressure on politicians. Weiter

Die rumänische Ratspräsidentschaft versucht weiterhin, sich mit den Mitgliedstaaten auf einen Kompromiss für die geplante Richtlinie zur Reform des Urheberrechts zu einigen. Währenddessen versagen immer mehr einflussreiche Rechteinhaber ihre Unterstützung und üben damit zusätzlichen Druck auf die Politik aus. Weiter

The trilogue negotiations on the upcoming copyright Directive are still stuck. EDRi has taken this opportunity to send out an open letter to the negotiators that not only we but also numerous international and Europe-based organisations have co-signed. Weiter

Representatives of the Member States in the European Council have not yet managed to reach a compromise. The trilogue negotiations are therefore continuing to drag on indefinitely. That gives cause for hope. Weiter