Brussels, 13/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - The associations EDiMA, Digital Europe, CCIA, BITKOM and OpenForum Europe have issued a joint statement on the draft EP report by Julia Reda (Greens/EFA, Germany) on the revision of copyright, in which they welcome the MEP's balanced proposals.
Copyright rules need to be brought into line with the digital environment and these rules must be able to stand up to constant developments in the sector, the Internet and digital media companies stress. “We believe it is essential to strike the right balance between protecting intellectual property and not adding any unreasonable burdens or expectations that may hinder the growth and development of the European digital sectors”, the statement reads.
As the draft Reda report stresses, basic online activities, such as the ability to freely link to publicly available material, need to be preserved and the “archaic anomalies” of certain rules, such as copyright levies, need to be revised, the partners add. They also welcome the report's implicit recognition of the fact that Europe's copyright rules will increasingly compete with the legal regimes of other countries and regions of the world, as digital technologies know no borders. “We believe that MEP Reda's draft report is a good first step and hope that it will help to inform the debate within the European Commission as it sets out to prepare a copyright reform”, the statement concludes. (Isabelle Lamberty)