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.
On 23rd of November, 2021, the European Commission has published two reports in the field of copyright, as required by Directives 2014/26/EU (CRM Directive) and 2019/790 (DSM Directive). They are supported by two studies: Study on emerging issues on collective licensing management in the digital environment, and Study on selected issues relating to the application of the CRM Directive.
A new book “Law and Artificial Intelligence: Issues of Ethics, Human Rights and Social Harm” was published (Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of law in Ljubljana, 2021), the editors of which are prof. dr. Aleš Završnik and dr. Katja Simončič. The author of one of the articles is also dr. Maja Bogataj Jančič, LL.M., LL.M., who wrote an article on the topic of whether artificial intelligence can be an author of a copyright work.
Jožef Štefan Institute is organising GO-DIP workshop series, first of them coming on November 19th, 2021 is revolving around software IP and data agreements. The GO-DIP project aims to increase the competencies of knowledge generators and intermediaries. At 15.10 dr. Maja Bogataj Jančič, LL.M., LL.M. will be lecturing in the Workshop: Development of a checklist for model digital IP agreements. Welcome!
2nd GPAI Summit will occur from 11-12 November, 2021 in Paris, France. Leading international AI experts from civil society, academia, industry and governments, including ministerial-level delegates from GPAI’s Membership, will come together for GPAI’s annual event. This public-facing event will include reporting on the ten Working Groups’ study topics, including the reporting of Data Governance Working Group (DG WG). Public conferences will be broadcasted live on GPAI’s Youtube channel. Welcome!