The debate on copyright in Europe has recently picked up speed.
Commissioner Barnier, responsible for the copyright portfolio, has just
recently kicked off the CEPS
‘Digital Forum Task Force on Copyright in the EU Digital Single Market’ that is supposed to develop a dialogue among all stakeholders on the
future of copyright. CCIA will participate in the task force. In addition,
President Barroso initiated a ‘copyright orientation debate’ among the college
of Commissioners at beginning of this month to ease some of the divisions that
have built up about the future of copyright within the Commission.
The result of the orientation debate was to initiate a stakeholder dialogue that
will begin in January next year. The dialogue will last until December 2013 to
give the Commission one year in order to decide which steps it should take
next. Importantly, legislative reform is explicitly not excluded. This exercise
will be accompanied by the completion of market studies, impact assessments,
and legal drafting work that are supposed to support the Commission in
deciding whether legislative action is needed in 2014.
Of major importance is the fact that this copyright review process will
be jointly led by Commissioners Barnier, Kroes, and Vassiliou. Even though it
is formally Commissioner Barnier who is responsible of intellectual property
rights within the EU, the two other Commissioners have managed to get
co-responsibility for a potentially huge initiative. This development is highly
welcomed as IPR policy cannot be made in a vacuum and as regards copyright in
particular, the Internet age dramatically challenged the existing legal
framework. It only makes sense to include Europe’s top two officials
responsible for the digital economy and education and culture respectively in a
debate that is central to their portfolio of responsibility.
The Copyright for Creativity (C4C) Initiative, a broad-based initiative
composed of civil society, libraries, industry (including CCIA) and creators,
has expressed this in a letter sent to the college of Commissioners in advance of the orientation
debate. The letter argues that setting out a vision of ‘Licensing Europe’ as expressed by Commissioner Barnier before the debate is premature and does not
fully embrace all the key issues that should be addressed. While licensing has
an important role to play, alternatives to licensing, particularly exceptions
and limitations to copyright, should be adequately discussed. Contrary to the
belief of copyright and corresponding licenses being the sole driver of economic
growth and creativity, the economic value of limitations and exceptions cannot
be underestimated. CCIA has conducted studies in both the EU and the US revealing this value.
In this context it is laudable that the Commission would like to address
limitations and exceptions to copyright as well as the intra-EU fragmentation
caused by the current system in the medium-term. There is no doubt that the
current Copyright Directive has not led to increased harmonization and legal
certainty across the EU which increases the cost of doing business on a
pan-European level. European start-ups and SMEs are the ones to suffer most
from this situation.
During the C4C event in
Prague a couple weeks ago, Konrad Boehmer, a noted composer of orchestral,
dramatic, chamber and electronic music as well as professor of
composition and music history at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, has
forcefully argued for one, single European authors rights law (in
tune with the civil law tradition). From the perspective of authors, such a law
would be the first step towards guaranteeing them more income from their own
works and in addition, it would greatly improve the accessibility of cultural
works across Europe. The Internet in particular, provides great opportunities
to distribute works online and make them available to a large audience across
borders.
Copyright reform at EU level will be a very sensitive topic and years
will pass before any sort of legislative proposal will be passed into EU law.
When the three Commissioners decide to engage in a copyright reform in 2014,
their term in office as the Commissioners term ends in 2014. What the next
college of Commissioners decides to do is uncertain. However, whatever will be
done, it is important to underline something the European Commission said last
week: any reform should be facts- and evidence-driven instead of being
primarily driven by politics and ideology. The right policy choices can only
flow from such an approach.
