The first quarter of 2022 in EU copyright
The implementation of Directive 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market and amending Directives 96/9/EC and 2001/29/EC (the so called DSM Directive) is still underway across Europe. Only eleven member states have so far implemented the directive. Implementing legislation is in its final stages in the parliament in Luxembourg and Spain, whilst sixteen member states – Slovenia included – have not reached that stage yet. A public discussion of implementing draft laws was held in Slovenia on 5. january 2022, with not much activity seen since. The CJEU key decision regarding article 17 of the DSM Directive in case C-401/19, Poland v Parliament and Council, is also fast approaching (26. April 2022). After the final decision on Poland’s action for annulment is issued, Poland is expected to begin the implementation process as well.
AG Pitruzzella issued his opinion in case C-716/20, RTL Television (link in French). He held that the notion of ‘cable retransmission’ refers to the retransmission of a primary transmission by cable distributors, who carry out such retransmission as professional operators in the context of a conventional cable network.
The CJEU has accepted a preliminary assessment (5. January 2022) on whether Directive 2014/26/EU must be interpreted as precluding national legislation that reserves access to the copyright intermediation market, or in any event the granting of licences to users, solely to entities which can be classified, according to the definition in that directive, as collective management organisations, to the exclusion of those which can be classified as independent management entities incorporated in that Member State or in other Member States. The case will be discussed under the number C-10/2022 LEA.
In other news, related to copyright law:
The European Commission issued its proposal of the ‘Data Act’ (23. February 2022). The proposed regulation would harmonise rules on who can use and access data generated in the EU across all economic sectors.
European Parliament and the Council reached a provisional agreement (24. March 2022) regarding a highly awaited regulation, the so called “Digital Markets Act” – DMA.
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).