Today, the European Parliament voted on MEP Julia Reda's report on the implementation of Directive 2001/29/EC (InfoSoc). The results were clear.

The plenary adopted the report with a broad majority (445/549). Now the upcoming copyright reform by Digital Commissioner Günther Oettinger cannnot only focus on cross-border trade but also on reforming exceptions to copyright protection. Furthermore, the amendment tabled by Angelika Niebler (EPP) was rejected! She - backed by 81 other MEPs - tried to insert text into the report calling for the introduction of an EU-wide ancillary copyright for press publishers. Fourtunately, the effort was shut down with 379 votes against. Although 142 MEPs demonstrated that they still have not understood the pure nonsense of such an ancillary copyright, the vote is another victory on keeping the right to link.

Or als Julia Reda puts it:

This should be the final blow to the idea of introducing at the European level a law to cross-finance news publishers which has already failed spectacularly in Germany and Spain.

We can only hope that she is right. As the report is non-binding and Oettinger has not come to a final conclusion, an ancillary copyright for press publishers is still not off the cards. The fight is not over yet!

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