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Absurd demands by the German collecting society for the press publishers

Till Kreutzer — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 13:47:01 +0000

The collecting society Corint Media (formerly VG Media) is claiming 420 million euros from Google Germany for the year 2022. It is demanding 11% of the total revenues generated by the search engine provider in Germany. These revenues are to be used to remunerate press publishers for the use of their content under the ancillary copyright. Corint ignores the fact that the Copyright Arbitration Board had already clearly rejected a similarly calculated demand in 2015. Read more

Google signs contracts with a handful of French press publishers

Tom Hirche — Tue, 24 Nov 2020 09:12:32 +0000

France has already introduced an ancillary copyright for press publishers. Google was instructed by the state to enter into negotiations with the press publishers. The first contracts have now been signed. Read more

The EU copyright directive and its potential impact on cultural diversity on the internet

Till Kreutzer — Tue, 04 Feb 2020 09:57:31 +0000

On July 6, the EU adopted the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (DSM Directive), following heated discussions of Articles 15 (formerly 11) and 17 (formerly 13) in particular. In Germany, tens of thousands of people took to the streets to demonstrate against the planned legislation in the lead-up to the vote in the European Parliament in March. Article 17 imposes much stricter liability on platforms such as YouTube. In the future, for example, these platforms will have to obtain permission from copyright holders for music videos uploaded by users. If they fail to do so, they will have to ensure that the content in question is not available on their service. The directive still needs to be transposed into the national legislation of the member states of the European Union by June 2021. Read more

Copyright Directive will not be implemented in the UK

Tom Hirche — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 19:44:12 +0000

While answering a written parliamentary question, the United Kingdom's Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, Chris Skidmore, has revealed that the government will not implement the EU's Copyright Directive in UK law. Read more

French publishers make a fool of themselves by demanding compulsory licence

Tom Hirche — Fri, 29 Nov 2019 15:29:10 +0000

French press publishers were granted their own ancillary copyright a month ago. So far, they have not been able to generate any significant income. With an antitrust complaint against Google, they now believe they can change this. A misbelief. Read more

France: Google Search Will Only Display Headlines of Press Publications

Tom Hirche - Till Kreutzer — Thu, 26 Sep 2019 14:18:47 +0000

France will soon introduce an ancillary copyright for press publishers. Google has now announced that it will by default no longer display snippets in its search results. But publishers will be able to change this by themselves. Read more

ECJ rules German ancillary copyright for press publishers to be ineffective!

Tom Hirche — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 12:26:41 +0000

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. Read more

How Article 17 of the EU Copyright Directive threatens Let's Play and Walkthrough Culture

Till Kreutzer — Thu, 29 Aug 2019 13:28:32 +0000

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. Read more

European Copyright Roundtable to Ensure Uniform Implementation of Directives

Tom Hirche — Wed, 26 Jun 2019 09:23:57 +0000

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. Read more

US Publishers' Study: Google Allegedly Generates Billions in Revenue with News

Tom Hirche — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 21:42:16 +0000

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. Read more

Council lets copyright reform pass – The die is cast

Tom Hirche — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 14:10:14 +0000

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. Read more

Fateful Day: EU Parliament Approves Copyright Reform – No Amendments Made

Tom Hirche — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 19:06:49 +0000

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. Read more

Reda: "You'll wish the mails had all come from bots."

Tom Hirche — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 16:11:35 +0000

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. Read more

Council of Ministers approves compromise on copyright reform

Tom Hirche — Sun, 24 Feb 2019 18:43:19 +0000

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. Read more

EU institutions agree on final text of Article 11

Tom Hirche — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 14:08:09 +0000

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! Read more

Yet another independent study bashes Article 11

Tom Hirche — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 18:58:00 +0000

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. Read more

Increasing number of rightholders reject EU copyright reform

Tom Hirche — Fri, 08 Feb 2019 16:02:40 +0000

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. Read more

Broad coalition of 89 organisations calls for deletion of Article 11 and 13

Tom Hirche — Wed, 30 Jan 2019 12:49:21 +0000

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. Read more

Dispute between EU states brings negotiations to a halt

Tom Hirche — Tue, 22 Jan 2019 21:15:28 +0000

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. Read more

Article 11: Negotiations did not bring any improvement so far

Till Kreutzer — Fri, 18 Jan 2019 08:41:40 +0000

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. Read more