Category European Commission

EU institutions agree on final text of Article 11   14/02/2019 by Tom Hirche

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   12/02/2019 by Tom Hirche

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

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Article 11: Negotiations did not bring any improvement so far   18/01/2019 by Till Kreutzer

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

No political consensus in 2018   17/12/2018 by Tom Hirche

The last trilogue negotiations for this year between representatives of European Parliament, European Commission and European Council took place last week. Again, an overall agreement could not be reached. Read more

Room for interpretations could lead to Spanish conditions   31/10/2018 by Tom Hirche

Representatives of the European Commission, the Council and the Parliament are currently negotiating a compromise solution for the new Copyright Directive. Unfortunately, it can be assumed to be certain that this Directive will contain an ancillary copyright for press publishers. However, the exact wording is not final yet. The devil is in the detail as the Parliament's proposal shows. Read more

The neighboring right for press publishers is a threat to Open Content and Open Access   06/09/2017 by Till Kreutzer

Back in July, the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) of the EU parliament suggested a few changes to the Commission's initial proposal for a new publisher's right. One of them is to remove the explicit exception for academic and scientific publications as found in recital 33 of the draft directive. This combined with the already extensive COM proposal would result in a tremendous threat to Open Content and Open Access publishing. Read more

Ansip only believes in surveys that confirm his view   02/07/2017 by Tom Hirche

The European Commission regularly makes use of surveys to gather a wide array of opinions from various stakeholders. But when the result does not meet the preconceived view, its relevance will simply be denied, as it seems. Read more

Snippets not only may but will be illegal   16/01/2017 by Tom Hirche

Last week, the European People's Party (EPP) Group in the European Parliament held an event labelled "Hearing on Copyright". One of the speakers was Giuseppe Abbamonte, the Commission's director of media policy at the DG CONNECT, who said that we might all act illegally when we share articles, as reported by Chris Spillane from POLITICO. Read more

How to solve the only specific problem of press publishers with copyright without an ancillary copyright    23/11/2016 by Till Kreutzer

The only argument of the press publishers in their quest for an own ancillary right that seems reasonable to a certain degree is their call for facilitated enforcement. They bemoan that it is difficult to enforce rights against mass online piracy. If this is a factual problem it can be solved easily without even touching the matter of an ancillary copyright. Read more

Debate in the Press Club Brussels: A tale about the lies of the publisher associations and the ignorance of the EU commission   11/10/2016 by Till Kreutzer

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. Read more

It could not be worse: Draft proposal for the copyright directive leaked   31/08/2016 by Till Kreutzer

We have just received the draft proposal of the European Commission for a new copyright directive. It shall complement – i.e. in general not amend – other directives inter alia the InfoSoc directive from 2001. As it had to be expected from the Impact Assessment that was leaked last week, the draft reads like an answer to the wish list of the publishing industry. Here comes a first assessment.

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Extending a bad idea does not make it better!   15/04/2016 by Tom Hirche

On 24th March, the European Commission launched its public consultation on the role of publishers in the copyright value chain and on the 'panorama exception'. Looking at the wording, it provides great insight into the Commission’s plans for the upcoming copyright reform. Read more

European publishers against European AC   07/12/2015 by Tom Hirche

Several Open Letters have reached the EU Commissioners while they conduct their public consultation on the role of online platforms. The most recent originates from a group of various European publishers who speak out against an ancillary copyright for press publishers. Read more

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Open Letter to EC and EP (UPDATE)   25/11/2015 by Tom Hirche

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. Read more