Brussels, 12/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - Vice-president Andrus Ansip would prefer clarification of the duty of diligence to changes to safe harbor vis-à-vis the liability of platforms covered by the e-commerce directive in order to put an end of abuse of online platforms such as YouTube. He explained this to the media on Tuesday 12 July immediately after receiving a letter signed by more than 1,000 European authors and composers.
The backdrop is particularly tense - the European Commission is preparing a second salvo of proposals on copyright, due to be published on 21 September. The package will address the question of transfer of value, whereby some online platforms provide content free to the public without necessarily remunerating the copyright-holders. At present, the e-commerce directive (2000/31/EC) allows platforms and intermediaries such as YouTube to benefit from derogations to copyright and royalty rules on the grounds that they are neutral, passive hosting services. This means that YouTube escapes from financing the music industry to the tune of €600 million a year, although it has a billion users and receives income from advertising. By comparison, music streaming service Spotify, which has 30 million subscribers, contributes €1.6 billion a year.
Authors and composers take action. In this context, European author and composer group GESAC sent a letter to the European Commission on Monday 11 July, calling on it to deal with the situation. The letter, signed by 1,111 authors and creative types, including Pedro Almodóvar and Charles Aznavour, says that their industries are in peril because their work is being exploited by technology giants that take cover behind outdated legislation in order to avoid paying for creativity. For the good of future generations of artists, this has to stop, said Scorpions singer/songwriter Klaus Meine in a press release. The letter explains that the seriousness of this problem requires more than piecemeal corrections and the rules have to recognise that platforms that play a key role in the supply of access to copyright-protected content by streaming or downloading must no longer be allowed to shirk their responsibility for their actions relating to copyright.
Ansip wants to deal with 'duty of diligence.' At a press conference, Vice-President Andrus Ansip recognised that the rules need to be clarified and a distinction made between platforms acting as intermediary and other platforms. He said the Commission had two options with this in mind, either clarifying the principle of 'safe harbor' (Article 12), which exonerates platforms for responsibility for content put online by users as long as they remove any infringements of copyright notified to them by the copyright holder, or clarifying the principle of 'duty of diligence' (Article 15), whereby suppliers are not required to monitor information they transmit or store, or actively seeking out facts that reveal unlawful activity. The first option, he said, would mean completely reopening the e-commerce directive and would turn the internet upside-down. In response to a question from this newsletter, he said he preferred the second option, whereby platforms would have to identify downloaded content and negotiate with rights holders in order to find out whether they want their creations to be withdrawn or charged for. Ansip said nothing had yet been decided and it was a matter that generated a lot of tension. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)