European Parliament set to vote on copyright reform
The European Parliament is set to vote on proposals tomorrow that aim to modernise copyright laws across the EU.
Last month the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs approved a series of amendments to a draft report prepared by Julia Reda, a member of the Pirate Party, in January.
The committee voted on 556 proposed amendments to Directive No. 2001/29/EC. The amendments were passed by 23 votes to 2.
Members of the French political group Front National were responsible for the two rejections.
The latest draft of the report that is due to be voted on includes exceptions enabling libraries and public institutions to digitally reproduce copyright protected works for members. The proposals also suggest allowing end users to privately copy protected works without requiring the permission of the right owner.
Once the parliament votes on the report it will be the task of the European Commission to introduce new legislation. The legislation will then be sent to back to the parliament to be voted on.
But Reda warned about a last-minute proposal for a “snippet tax” for newspaper publishers, put forward by Member of the European Parliament Angelika Niebler after last month’s vote, and has urged politicians to reject the proposal.
Niebler has called for publishers to be allowed to charge for links to their content. Her proposal calls on the commission to “evaluate and come forward with a proposal on how quality journalism can be preserved, even in the digital age”.
Reda published a blog post on Monday, July 6, arguing that such a proposal puts the “freedom to hyperlink at stake” and provides an “ ancillary copyright” for publishers.
She said: “The ancillary copyright is an attack on one of the foundations of online communications: the freedom to link from one resource to another.
“Because many publishers from the print era have failed to innovate and create sustainable business models for online journalism, they are trying to put a price tag on linking to their freely available news article,” she added.
The vote is due to take place tomorrow, July 9.
The proposals also suggest allowing end users to privately copy protected works without requiring the permission of the right owner.
