Changing the numbers of the articles won’t make the EU copyright reform better!
If the European Parliament adopts the Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market next week, especially Article 13 (which was changed to Article 17 just before the vote), the internet as a space for communication, where everyone freely communicates with everyone else, will change drastically.
The problematic provision will pose an obligation to platforms, on which users upload certain contents, to conclude license agreement for practically every possible copyrighted work, otherwise they will be liable for the uploaded content infringing copyright. To avoid a relatively high degree of legal risk, platforms will in doubt block the content (with upload filters that are currently not able to distinguish lawful use from copyright infringement) and with this avoid liability.
To better understand the consequences of Article 13, watch this video or read the article and scheme prepared by Communia on this issue.
Yesterday, European companies joined the civil initiative fighting against censorship, organizations in the scientific, economic, librarian, educational and other sectors warning about the threat to freedom of expression, open education and research, as well as the rightsholders in the audio-visual and sports sector, entertainment and music industry on the other side who believe that the directive imposes too much obligations on them. In an open letter 130 European companies exposed the negative implications of Articles 11 (now Article 15) and 13 (now Article 17) on the European economy. Changing the numbers of the Directive in not enough, Europe needs a better legislative solution!
The 43rd session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (hereinafter SCCR) made substantial progress on the issues advocated by the A2K Coalition (Access to Knowledge Coalition), which IPI is a member of. This year’s session was the most productive on the issues of exceptions and limitations. James Love (Knowledge Ecology International), a long-time observer at WIPO, described the outcome and the impact of the public interest community as the strongest since the conclusion of the Marrakech Treaty, which brought global copyright exceptions for the benefit of the blind and visually impaired.
Today, March 17, 2023, a symposium on law in the information society is taking place in the golden lecture hall of the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana. Dr. Maja Bogataj Jančič will present copyright aspects of artificial intelligence at the symposium.
The third day of the 43rd session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights is intended for discussion on the topic of exceptions and limitations to copyright, especially in connection with the right to research.
The 43rd session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR/43) is being held in Geneva from March 13 to 17, 2023. The Intellectual Property Institute has a permanent observer status at WIPO since 2022 and is also a member of the Access to Knowledge Coalition (A2K coalition).