Brussels, 02/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - The Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques (SACD) has welcomed the joint declaration on copyright by the French and German ministers for culture at the 17th Franco-German Council of Ministers on 31 March in Berlin (see EUROPE 11287). The SACD stated: “This initiative demonstrates the support from these two major founding countries of the European Union for copyright”.
The authors and composers are calling on the European Commission to take into account this convergence of views in its revision of the European copyright framework it is due to present in the autumn. The SACD insists that the new framework must therefore be along the lines of the four major principles illustrated by the two ministers, Fleur Pellerin and Heiko Maas, namely that: 1) copyright plays a key role in promoting cultural diversity, creativity, growth and job creation; 2) appropriate remuneration and copyright must always be protected and guaranteed, in tandem with the collective management companies; 3) the economic models based on the territoriality of rights must be fully taken into account in order to guarantee appropriate financing for creators; 4) copyright currently insures an overall balance between access to creative works and appropriate remuneration of the creators and inventors and whose remuneration for private copy must reflect this and be protected.
The SACD also shares the ministers' conviction that all digital resources must be used effectively to facilitate the access to and distribution of cultural works. The SACD also points out that, in the new digital strategy, the regulatory framework still needs to be develops so that internet operators have a level playing field with regard to the creative process and taxation. (Isabelle Lamberty)