The Party House Largo Night - Sofia (2013) Pudelek (Marcin Szala) CC-SA

The EU copyright reforms and the Proposed Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market – MAPPING IP Sofia

In June, I was invited to participate in the MAPPING IP event that was held in Sofia, Bulgaria. This event, contrary to other MAPPING events I have participated in (see for instance my post about the second general assembly in Prague), was entirely dedicated to IP. There was a rich program of presentations (see here) tackling all major types of IP law and notably discussing recent reforms or reform proposals in Europe.

Here is the abstract of my talk entitled ‘The EU copyright reforms and the Proposed Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market’:

The European Union is currently undertaking a review of its copyright laws. The European Commission has, in the context of its Digital Single Market (DSM) Strategy, launched two sets of legislative proposals which impact copyright and the delivery of copyright-protected works. One set of legislative proposals aims to improve cross-border portability of online content services, such as music or TV subscription services, to enable customers of such services in one country to access them when they travel in other EU countries.

The other set of legislative proposals, one for a regulation on TV and radio broadcasting and the other for a directive on copyright, aims to modernise the EU copyright framework. The Proposed Directive on Copyright in the DSM (COM(2016) 593 final) will be the main focus for this paper as it is both wide ranging and controversial, tackling topics such as exceptions and limitations, out-of-commerce works, fair remuneration for authors and performers, the creation of a new right for press publishers or the potential revision of the liability regime for internet intermediaries.

This paper will assess the merits and limits of the proposed directive currently being discussed in the European institutions with a particular focus on the questions of the ancillary right for press publishers and of the new obligations for online service providers.

 

Picture credit: The Party House Largo by Night – Sofia (2013) Pudelek (Marcin Szala) CC-SA via Wikimedia


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