Trade secrets and copyright reforms pass EU legal committee
The European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee has passed a series of reforms to laws governing trade secrets and copyright protection.
By a vote of 25 to 2 on Tuesday, June 16, the committee passed proposed amendments to Directive No. 2001/29/EC, which deals with harmonising copyright and related rights in the information society.
The committee was voting on proposals in a report put together by Julia Reda, a member of European Parliament for the Pirate Party. Her proposals aim to modernise copyright laws across the EU.
Between now and January, when Reda published her report, more than 550 amendments have been to her proposals.
On Tuesday, the committee rejected an amendment that would have exempted people from paying royalties if they used quotations of copyrighted works in online videos. But it passed an amendment that seeks to prevent further increases in copyright protection terms across Europe.
The committee also passed a rule that would allow public institutions to reproduce works from their collections digitally without requiring permission of the copyright owner.
Reda said that while she was disappointed with many of changes to the report, she recognised the historical “turning point”.
“After the decades in which the focus was on introducing new restrictions to protect the material interests of right owners, this is the strongest demand yet to reconsider the rights of public.
“It is a call to reduce the legal uncertainty Europeans face in their everyday online interactions with copyrighted works today—while at the same time also protecting creators from exploitation,” she added.
On the same day, the committee passed draft legislation covering the protection of trade secrets.
The trade secrets bill, being driven by Constance Le Grip of the European People’s Party, aims to introduce a European-wide definition of a trade secret and require member states to provide legal measures enabling right owners to tackle the misuse of confidential information.
It passed in a 19-2 vote, with three abstaining.
Le Grip said: “Fighting against economic and industrial espionage, and giving companies the means to protect their know-how and professional information against any unlawful acquisition throughout Europe provides better protection for innovation competitiveness and employment in Europe.”
Miquel Montana, partner at law firm Clifford Chance and based in Barcelona, said he is concerned about an amendment passed by the committee that prevents right owners seeking redress if a trade secret was acquired for the purpose of whistleblowing or freedom of expression.
"It is very doubtful that this is amendment is compatible with article 39 of the TRIPS agreement. Assuming that these amendments were finally adopted, there is a risk that may cause the EU and its member states to infringe article 39."
The full parliament is set to vote on Reda’s final report in July. The committee said the EU Council should now begin informally discussing the draft trade secrets legislation.
