Create Festival 2016: Julia Reda urges for common ground post-‘Brexit’
Member of European Parliament (MEP) Julia Reda called for “common ground” on copyright following the UK’s decision today to leave the EU.
She was speaking at the Create Festival, which takes place at RSA House in London and includes discussions about copyright and creativity.
Based at the University of Glasgow, Create’s core concern is the future of creative production and the relationship between law and digital innovation.
Martin Kretschmer, Create director, started off proceedings by talking about the future of copyright.
He said “it’s a beautiful day … but this is not what we will remember today for”, making reference to the news that Britain will leave the EU.
In his opening speech, he alluded to the four “inconvenient truths of copyright” and talked about the independence and dignity of artists in copyright law.
On a screen above, Kretschmer outlined some of these inconvenient truths, including copyright and the consumer. Kretschmer said, however, that “streaming services in the Netherlands dropped piracy rates” and that enforcement can work in these instances.
George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin’s famous song “Summertime” was also mentioned, due to it being in joint copyright ownership.
MEP Reda began her keynote speech shortly afterwards.
“It is a great honour to speak today … I want to lend my full support to Create,” she began.
“We have woken up to a very different world today,” again making reference to the historic Brexit today.
She explained her “academic approach to copyright” in her speech and said she hoped that copyright reform would be achieved through “incremental change.”
Talking about exceptions, unveiled by the European Commission in December last year, she said “digital copying is at the core of any digital technology.”
In her closing few words, Reda said she was “sorry British copyright only applies to British works” and said we now have to find “common ground” following the British exit today.
“We need to start a global debate about copyright treaties,” she added.
The Create Festival takes place all day today, and further information can be viewed here.
