Category Günther Oettinger

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

With the ancillary copyright, some publishers want to get a digital money printing machine from politicians – soon also at the EU level. How did we come to this? Read more

The ancillary copyright for press publishers is more and more often covered by German media recently. However, the choice of words differs tremendously: While conservative media worship the Holy Günther as their patron saint, the innovators identify the major risks deriving from his proposal and discuss them. Read more

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 is always a great thing when politicians join the public discussion. Yesterday, EU-Commissioner Günther Oettinger tried to defend his proposal on an ancillary copyright for press publishers on Twitter. But what he let loose was enough to drive one to despair.

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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. Read more

A cross-party coalition formed by over 80 MEPs has written an Open Letter to President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, to European Commissioner for Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip as well as to European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Günther Oettinger. They are "deeply concerned about the Commission's Communication 'Towards a modern, more European copyright framework'". 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

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

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

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