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Dear clients and cooperation partners,
The European Parliament has voted in favour of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market 2016/0280(COD), also known as the Copyright Directive. While the proposed draft is favourable for the creative industry and press publishers, it will certainly create more obligations for tech companies. The proposal firstly introduces a new type of related rights ‒ press publisher rights ‒ which will accordingly generate new costs for users of press content. Secondly, the proposal significantly increases the legal burden imposed on online platforms with regard to the content that users place on them: now online platforms themselves will be responsible for ensuring that hosted content does not violate the rights of others as well as for obtaining appropriate licences.
The proposal was originally rejected by members of parliament in July following criticism of two key provisions: Articles 11 and 13, dubbed by critics the “link tax” and the “upload filter”. However, on September 12 the parliament adopted a revised negotiating position on copyright rules, including the disputed articles. The proposal will now be submitted to the EU Commission and Council and, if approved, implemented in law by member states.
One major shift is that the proposal grants copyright to press publishers, entitling them to remuneration for digital reproduction and distribution of press content. In response to criticism regarding “link tax”, hyperlinks accompanied by individual words as well as legitimate non-commercial use by individual users are now excluded from the scope of the provision.
As for the widely criticized Article 13 of the new directive, this determines that online platforms are to be directly liable for copyright infringements. One of the most heavily criticized changes is that online platforms that post user-generated content (such as social networks and video channels) will now be required to obtain permission from copyright holders before publishing content. This obligation has caused considerable uncertainty because it is not always clear who owns this right and how exactly permission should be obtained. However, the draft exempts micro and smaller enterprises, as well as non-commercial enterprises. Wikipedia and other open source platforms will not be affected by the new directive. Moreover, the draft introduces monitoring obligations for platforms as a way to achieve the aim of ensuring that artists, journalists, and other content creators are paid for their work used by sharing platforms. |
