“Culture first! Coalition” expresses relief at decision to defer draft recommendation on private copying

Brussels, 20/12/2006 (Agence Europe) - The “Culture First! Coalition”, composed of fifteen organisations representing various right-holder categories including authors, actors, journalists, and musical and audiovisual producers welcomed the Commission's decision to take time for reflection to consider the management of copyright. Last week, President Barroso had decided to defer the Commission's draft recommendation on private copying (see EUROPE 9326, 9327).

“We salute the Commission's determination to address intellectual property and cultural issues with all appropriate consideration and proper debates, as also appears in the EU prompt ratification of the UNESCO Convention on cultural diversity”, the Coalition states in a press release. It welcomes the “independence of action towards hard-pushing industries that praised the pure and simple substitution of current systems by lockers - the so called 'technical protection measures'” (TPM). The organisation restates that the system of “remuneration for private copying” - which authorises private copying of audiovisual works by levying fees for authors on blank CDs and cassettes and electronic devices - “entails no significant extra costs for the hardware industry that markets copy-enabling equipment or media and makes high profits from these sales”. (mb)