The future European Commission copyright proposals are becoming clearer and should be out on Wednesday 21 September. According to the draft impact assessment seen by EUROPE, the Commission is seeking to strengthen the rights of newspaper publishers on the Internet by providing them with the possibility of seeking financial compensation from search engines.
The paper also gets to grips with the issue of content remuneration and geo-blocking. Julia Reda MEP (Greens/EFA, Germany) immediately responded to this leak by sounding the alarm. On her website, she referred to the international anti-counterfeiting agreement rejected in 2012 by the European Parliament (EUROPE 10648) and explained, "Commissioner Oettinger is on the point of transforming the reform of EU copyright law into another ACTA". According to Reda, "The Commission is not proposing an adjustment to copyright law in the digital era but rather, copyright that seeks to protect the future of the major players from the past".
Newspaper publishers get copyright protection
According to a draft impact study, member states would be able to propose that newspaper publishers have the possibility of reclaiming financial compensation from Internet platforms such as Google News when the latter publish an extract from their own content. A spokesperson quoted by the Belga press agency indicated, "The Commission is looking at the possibility of granting rights related to copyright for newspaper publishers, which would constitute recognition of their role as investors in content and put them in a better negotiating position with other market actors". The spokesperson did explain, however, that "This has absolutely nothing to do with the European tax on search engines".
Self-regulation for the transfer of value
The Commission also wants to put a stop to the transfer of value. According to this principle, certain online platforms provide the public with free content, without necessarily paying the rights holders. To do this, the Commission impact assessment is highlighting the need for good faith to be shown in this connection. It is suggesting that all websites hosting videos such as YouTube, Dailymotion and Facebook, "Seek to conclude, in good faith, agreements with the rights holders that reflect the economic use value of the protected work in question and that they introduce content identification technologies that are both appropriate and proportionate". According to the paper, the agreement could take the shape of a copyright licence or share of revenues. It should be pointed out that the notification and withdrawal system included in the directive on e-commerce (2000/31/CE), will continue to apply to providers of host services for aspects that are not covered by the agreements or when contents cannot be identified. On the question of content remuneration, the Commission may simply impose transparency obligations by way of a rights adjustment contract or litigation resolution mechanism.
Certain copyright exceptions could become compulsory exceptions
Currently, the majority of exceptions (education sector, text and data mining and preservation activities by cultural heritage institutions) are optional. The Commission is proposing to make them mandatory in the field of education (with a cross-border reach that covers digital and online applications), data mining for research organisations working for the public interest, as well as those working to preserve cultural heritage and the conservation of different content.
In the area of geo-blocking, the Commission may suggest applying the country of origin principle with regard to the payment of copyright related rights for online broadcasting services, in an effort to allow for the cross-border distribution of TV and online radio programmes. At the same time, the rights linked to content broadcasting in Union countries would only need to be cleared for the "country of origin" (COO) of the broadcasting organisation (and not for the countries of reception). The impact assessment also promotes mandatory collective management for simultaneous, unaltered and unabridged retransmission of TV/radio broadcasts by IPTV retransmission services and other retransmission services. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)