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6 December 2013Copyright

EU seeks feedback on copyright review

The European Commission has opened a consultation on its continuing efforts to modernise and review copyright rules in the EU.

Published on December 5, a consultation document asks copyright owners and other “stakeholders” 80 questions, broken down into eight sections. The commission will accept responses until February 5, 2014.

The consultation focuses on ensuring that the EU copyright framework stays fit for purpose in the digital environment, taps the full potential of the single market, fosters growth and investment and promotes cultural diversity, according to the document.

It follows the publication of the commission’s communication called Content in the Digital Single Market, in 2012, which called for continuing efforts to modernise the EU copyright setup. The communication also sought to coordinate “industry-led solutions” through a “stakeholder dialogue”, called Licences for Europe.

The second process is now complete, with recommendations including a multi-territory "one-click micro-licence" offered by record companies and authors' collecting societies for small scale use of music online. The commission expects to decide in 2014 whether to table legislative reforms based on the first goal.

As part of this review process, the new consultation is seeking feedback on some of the issues identified in Content in the Digital Single Market. These range from limitations and exceptions to copyright in the digital age to the fragmentation of the EU copyright market.

Questions include “Have you faced problems when seeking to provide online services across borders in the EU?” and “Should digital copies made by end users for private purposes in the context of a service that has been licensed by rightholders, and where the harm to the rightholder is minimal, be subject to private copying levies?”.

The questions are “really” important for addressing the need for copyright to adapt to the digital age, said Peder Oxhammar, partner at Baker & McKenzie in Sweden.

“A number of things here are really interesting – one, the territorial aspect. In licensing, rights owners can segment the market by giving different licences to different parts of the EU. But the EU is one entity ... we need to make a licence for the entire community.

“And one of the interesting issues that the community needs to deal with is copyright levies. If you’re selling blank media (such as USBs), it is an area where there is a lot of tension. What happens if you’re selling something from a web shop from one state to another?

“This is so important because it is not clear,” Oxhammar said.

While the consultation is a step in the right direction, he added, “as always with policy making, it can be a long process”.

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More on this story

Copyright
3 February 2014   The European Commission has extended the deadline for responding to its review of copyright rules in the EU.