Kategorie copyright

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

EU-Commissioner Günther Oettinger gave a speech last Monday at the annual meeting of the Federation of German Newspaper Publishers (BDZV). There he explicitly called on the publishing houses to create more buzz in favor of his proposed ancillary copyright for press publishers/neighbouring right/link tax meaning he wants them to shush down their online magazines. Weiter

Two weeks ago, Communia together with EDRi held the event "Copyright reform – unlocking copyright for users?" in the European Parliament. It was hosted by MEPs Comodini Cachia (EPP) and Carlos Zorrinho (S&D). Several represantatives of digital rights' organizations, publishers, creative industries, collecting societies and artists took part and discussed the future of copyright. Film maker Sebastiaan ter Burg asked some of the experts from civil society organizations for their view on the current copyright reform and later created this nice short video to show their answers: Weiter

Today, the EU Commission has published its plans on introducing an ancillary copyright for basically any press publisher lasting a little over 20 years. Glyn Moody wrote an article published by ArsTechnika UK criticizing the draft. Weiter

Last Wednesday, the European Commission's consultation "on the role of publishers in the copyright value chain and on the 'panorama exception'" came to an end. And so has the #FixCopyright campaign by Copyright for Creativity (C4C). An incredible number of 2819 people have used the answering tool. All the answers have already been transfered to the Commission.

The message is clear: A strict "No!" to an ancillary copyright/neighbouring right for (press) publishers as well as a overwhelming "Yes!" to freedom of panorama. Take a look at the numbers here! 

We would like to express our sincere thanks to all participants who have raised their voices.

The NGO La Quadrature du Net that promotes digital rights and freedoms of citizens has positioned itself clearly against a new "publisher's right" the EU Commission is suggesting in its still ongoing consultation on the role of publishers in the copyright value chain and on the 'panorama exception'. Weiter

In late September, the EU Commission has initiated its public consultation on online platforms. To encourage everybody to speak his/her mind, there now is (another) online tool that facilitates the process of submitting your opinion to the Commission. 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

Civil society and digital rights groups are sounding the alarm about a public consultation run by the European Commission on the role of online platforms, the result of which could be new copyright rules that would effectively shut down people’s right to freely link online. The 75,000-strong Save The Link network has created an Internet Voice Tool to send feedback to the Commission as part of their consultation. Weiter

The Blog IPKat leaked a draft communication on copyright reform from the European Commission "towards a modern, more European copyright framework". Alongside some positive approaches on how to reform the European copyright law, it contains the threat of changing the web as we know it today by directly attacking the hyperlink. Weiter

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!

The ancillary copyright for press publishers might find its way into Julia Reda's report for a progressive copyright reform. A corresponding amendment was tabled in the last minute. Weiter

Yesterday, the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament voted on the Report on the Copyright Directive by MEP Julia Reda. It was adopted with a broad majority: 23 votes in favour, only 2 against (Front National) and no abstention. Weiter

Austria will not get an ancillary copyright for press publishers! At least not for now. But it is only postponed, as the Ministry of Justice confirmed. Weiter

Yesterday, the Austrian Ministry of Justice has published its draft amendment to the Austrian copyright law with a suspiciously short period for statements of only 10 days. Surprisingly, the draft contains an ancillary copyright for press publishers! Weiter

On 16th June 2015, the European Parliament's legal affairs committee will vote on the report on the review of EU copyright rules. The report's author, MEP Julia Reda, calls on everybody to support her (good) work. Weiter

Last week, Markus Keßler from Futurezone.at interviewed EU-Commissioner Günther Oettinger. Besides geoblocking, net neutrality and data preservation, the ancillary copyright for press publishers was also a topic on the list. Weiter

The Lisbon Council and Innovation Economics have published the "2015 Intellectual Property and Economic Growth Index: Measuring the Impact of Exceptions and Limitations in Copyright on Growth, Jobs and Prosperity". The report was written by Benjamin Gibert, non-resident fellow at the Lisbon Council. Weiter

Last week, several signatories sent an open letter to the coordinator of the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights and Copyright Reform at the European Parliament Jean-Marie Cavada. It calls for an inclusion of the civil society in the process to ensure a balanced representation of views. Weiter