Final text of the Directive adopted

The trilogue negotiations are concluded after 30 month with a final text of the new EU Copyright Directive, which is not good.

The verdict is the following:

1) Article 13:

– commercial sites and apps where users can upload their content must make best efforts to preemptively buy licences for the uploaded content,

– all but very few sites will have to deploy upload filters to prevent unauthorised copying of a copyright work,

– should a court find non-compliance licensing or filtering obligations, sites will be directly liable for infringements.

2) Article 11:

– reproducing more than “single words or very short extracts” of news stories (snippets, for example) will require a licence,

– this provision is not limited to search engines and news aggregators, but will apply also to services run by individuals, small companies or non-profits.”

3) Other provisions:

– text and data mining: rightholders can opt out of having their works datamined by anyone except research organisations,

– author’s right to proportionate remuneration: total buy-out contracts will continue to be the norm,

– access to cultural heritage: libraries will be able to publish out-of-commerce works online and museums will no longer be able to claim copyright on photographs of centuries-old paintings.

And what is the next step? The Parliament and Council negotiators who agreed on the final text now return to their institutions seeking approval of the result. The Parliament’s process starts with the approval by the Legal Affairs Committee – which is likely to be given on Monday, February 18. Next, the EU member state governments will vote in the Council. Finally, the vote in the plenary of the European Parliament will take place at the end of March or in the beginning of April. There, the proposal of the directive can be approved, changed or, in the best case scenario, rejected.