News

Open Media has created a clever little video that shows you why we need to save the link from censorship. Watch and share!

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

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. Read more

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. Read more

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. Read more

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! Read more

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. Read more

The German collecting society VG Media will have a panel discussion on "The relevance of ancillary copyrights for the European Media Diversity" on 17th June, 2015 at 11.30 a.m. Host will be the Representation of the Free State of Bavaria to the EU in Brussels. The VG Media exercises copyrights and ancillary copyrights for almost all German broadcasters and over 200 digital products of German newspaper and magazine publishers. Read more

On May 6, 2015 the EU Commission presented its much-anticipated strategy for the Digital Single Market (DSM). The communication paper has some up- but especially many downsides. Read more

An international network of organizations launches campaign to safeguard the Right To Link

Legislators in European Parliament and Commission are considering updates to copyright proposals that would censor links for Internet users

May 6, 2015 –A large network of over 50 organizations from 21 countries is coming together to “Save The Link”. Today, the network is launching a multilingual international campaign aimed at pushing back against efforts by powerful media conglomerates to censor links and stifle free expression on the Internet. One of the proposals being advanced could make users personally liable for the content of websites they link to online. Read more

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. Read more

The website savethelink.org has opened its gates! Its goal is to preserve the "ability to link to your favorite content and services". Everybody is called upon to participate in this petition. Organisations supporting this initiative include IGEL, but also EDRi, Copyright for Creativity and Creative Commons. Read more

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. Read more

Günther Oettinger, the European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, had a talk with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (F.A.Z.) about his approach on reforming European copyright. Among numerous other things, Oettinger also commented on an ancillary copyright for press publishers in the EU. Read more

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. Read more

On January 20, Julia Reda, MEP for the German Pirate Party and Vice President of the Greens/EFA group, presented the draft report evaluating 2001's EU copyright directive (InfoSoc) to the Committee on Legal Affairs of the European Parliament. Now the other committees concerned with this subject have published their views on the report. Read more

In her article published on The Digital Post, Caroline de Cock, Coordinator of the Copyright4Creativity (C4C) Coalition, claims that now is the time to fix European copyright law. And she is right. Read more

We are very excited to announce that IGEL is now a member of Copyright for Creativity (C4C). We are very happy to team up with this pan-European coalition of NGOs including  European Digital Rights (EDRi), Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF),  European Bureau of Library, Information, and Documentation Associations (EBLIDA) and many more groups and associations (see the full list of supporters here) working all together to promote a responsible and sustainable European copyright law for the digital age. Recent developments in Spain and discussions in other European Member States have raised concern that the ancillary copyright for press publishers might spread in Europe or even be introduced as a pan-European regulation. By partnering up with the C4C multi-stakeholder network we hope to raise more awareness and build a stronger resistance against such dangerous development for the digital world.

Julia Reda, MEP for the German Pirate Party and Vice President of the Greens/EFA group, has released the draft report evaluating 2001's EU copyright directive (InfoSoc). She is a member of the Committee on Legal Affairs of the EU Parliament and was elected rapporteur on this particular issue in May. Read more

In an open letter to Günther Oettinger, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, the European Copyright Society (ECS) calls for a sweeping reform of copyright law. Read more

The Spanish Association of Daily Newspaper Publishers (AEDE) was the driving force behind the new copyright law that forces every news service to pay a royalty for showing snippets of articles. It will come into effect on 1st January 2015. Google reacted quickly and shut down Google News Spain on 16th December 2014. Now the same lobbyists want Google to come back and ask for help. Read more

As of today, associations of Polish, French, Spanish and Italian publishers dispatched an open letter to Günther Oettinger, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society. In the letter, the publishers express their “concerns with the recent developments in Spanish law, which directly target the sharing, linking and aggregation of content online with a new form of ‘ancillary right' triggering mandatory payments. IGEL, the Initiative against an ancillary copyright law for press publishers, supported that letter and acted as a signatory. Read more

International trade group Computer & Communications Industry Association has joined IGEL in order to stop the proposed neighbouring right for press publishers ('Leistungsschutzrecht'). James Waterworth, Head of CCIA's Brussels office, sent us the following statement: Read more