Empower Democracy
Blog Post

What you need to know before voting on the Copyright Reform this week

19th June 2018

VOTING ON THE COPYRIGHT REFORM THIS WEEK?

WILL YOU VOTE TO HELP PUBLISHERS LICENCE THEIR CONTENT, FINANCE INNOVATION, INVEST IN PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISM AND SUPPORT EUROPE'S FREE, INDEPENDENT PRESS?

OR

WILL YOU BE ON RECORD AS HAPPY TO ENDORSE THE CONTINUED UNLICENSED USE OF VALUABLE NEWS CONTENT BY COMPANIES WHO THRIVE ON MONETISING THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF OTHERS?

If you are voting on the EU Copyright reform this week, you will have been targeted by highly-aggressive, anti-copyright campaigning from the internet giants, platforms, news aggregators and a myriad of companies who are dependent upon them, often cast as "start-ups". The internet giants and the "free-for-all" ecosystem perpetuated by them currently benefit from the legal obstacles that allow free-riding on news publishers' content, re-using and monetising professional journalism without either permission or remuneration. They are asking you to vote against a Publisher's [neighbouring] Right (Article 11). They would like the status quo to continue in order to maintain their advertising revenues and they use ungrounded arguments about saving links to induce fear and hide their commercial objectives.

Your rapporteur, Axel Voss MEP, is proposing a compromise that is both fair and reasonable.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

THE LINK IS SAFE AND INDIVIDUALS ARE EXCLUDED FROM THE RIGHT

● Both hyperlinks and uses by individuals are excluded from scope of the right in the rapporteur's compromise

JOURNALISTS AND AUTHORS WILL GET A SHARE OF THE ADDITIONAL REVENUE

● Journalists and authors will be entitled to a fair share of any additional revenue generated by licensing - this has been written into the compromise

SMALL PUBLISHERS NEED A PUBLISHER'S RIGHT, AS WELL AS LARGE PUBLISHERS

● Small news publishers want and need a Publisher's [neighbouring] Right to provide them with their own legal standing as much as large publishers

THE INTERNET WILL NOT BREAK

● The internet will not break: the internet is only as useful as the content that populates it and much of the professional, fact-checked content is financed by publishers

A PUBLISHER'S RIGHT IS A WAIVABLE RIGHT NOT A MANDATORY 'REMUNERATION RIGHT'.

● It is up to publishers how they use it. A Publisher's Right quite simply provides publishers with their own legal standing. This legal clarity will help bring companies to the table to negotiate licences, or other commercial terms, for the re-use of their content. Importantly, though, it will be for publishers to decide if and how their intellectual property is used by others instead of the take-it-or-leave-it terms dictated by the internet giants

THE SPANISH AND GERMAN LAWS ARE WORKING

● Similar (but not identical) laws in Spain and Germany are starting to provide licensing revenue. A neighbouring right is an exclusive right providing publishers across the EU with their own legal standing

IN CONCLUSION

1. A Publisher's Right will encourage companies to the table to negotiate licences or other commercial terms and give publishers the legal certainty they require for future investment and innovation;

2. Voting in favour of a Publisher's Right this week will have a positive impact on the internet and on consumer's access to quality knowledge by granting an additional tool to fund press content;

3. By voting against the Publisher's Right this week, the European Parliament would seriously hamper the future of Europe's newspapers and magazines, their websites and apps and most of all their journalists and photographers who work to high professional standards to bring news, analysis and entertainment to the citizens of Europe.

We hope that this information and insight will make a valuable contribution to the political debate on our sector and that, If you are committed to a democratic Europe with a strong media landscape , you will feel inspired to get involved with our initiative, www.empower-democracy.eu