The EU adapts copyright law to the Internet age. After long negotiations, the Europe suitable Parliament and the member States on Wednesday evening at the Reform. The previous rules were 20 years old. Thus, business models that the Internet, digital platforms, and will not be covered. The compromise remains highly controversial.
What was decided?
basically, a digital Copyright, it was decided. The goal is that digital platforms like Google or Facebook will pay in the future, the authors, i.e. journalists, artists, musicians and film-Makers money for it, if you use on your pages a certain extent, their content.
What are the key innovations?
search engines to pay for showing article snippets in the future, money to the publishers. Specifically, search engines such as Google are not allowed to cut-outs without further small articles – so-called Snippets in your search results or in Google News to display. Rather, you should ask the publishers for permission, and possibly pay for it.
What are the changes in music and Videos on the Internet?
platforms like Youtube must do everything Possible to prevent copyright infringement. Protected works must be licensed before they land on the platforms – or are not allowed to be uploaded. This could have in the absence of licensing opportunity also has an impact on users ‘ self-created Videos.
How to do this technically?
The platforms must install a Software that ensures that only those licensed works will be uploaded. This Software is for more than ten years on the market. Critics call this Software as “Upload”-Filter, through the censorship of the Internet threatens. So the Filter could also block legal content, such as parodies of, or quotations – and so the freedom of expression limit.
May communicate to the user the article “the”?
The Parts of the excerpts from articles is also prohibited in the future. There is also no link to tax comes as some critics claimed. It is allowed to continue, the Upload of protected creative works, to quote excerpts for criticism, to use them for cartoons or parodies.
have To pay all of the platforms and stick to?
no, non-commercial providers, such as Online encyclopedias, such as Wikipedia or Open-Source software platforms like GitHub are. In addition, small and young provider should be exempt from the regulations: platforms that have less than ten million Euro annual turnover and less than five million users in the month, or who are younger than three years are not subject to the new rules.
Who are the winners of the Reform?
The winner could be publishers, daily Newspapers and weekly Newspapers. In the future, platforms such as Google have to pay publishers fees, if you show more than just Links to articles, for example, all Headings, or longer text calls. Google and co. may the future bring only a few key words from a newspaper article. The benefit however, especially large publishers.
What is with journalists?
It is envisaged that the journalists get as the author of some of the fees. How it is to work for the EU, however, makes no specifications. To benefit musicians, Video artists and other Creative people to get their Work to digital platforms such as Youtube access. The platforms will have to pay, if the works without payment or without the consent of the author can be accessed. Accordingly, the industry associations of the German newspaper and magazine publishers, as well as the Gema, have welcomed, as a society, the music rights holders the compromise.
the publishers are Able to enforce the new rights also?
not led to the introduction of The German service protection law of 2013, for the publishers, the hoped-for results. It is therefore not excluded that it is also available with this EU decision, a kind of blackmail potential for Google, according to the Motto: If your publishers want to be paid, are you going completely out? This is quite possible, says a spokesman for the German newspaper publishers ‘ Association. “In newspaper ads that Google has switched a few weeks ago in Germany, has threatened the company. That would be a blatant abuse of a dominant market position.“ Google should not threaten in fact, publishers are no longer in Google News, or their texts, remove, could, however, be an abuse of procedure in accordance with EU competition law.
Who are the losers?
The big digital platforms, including Google News, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and co. so Far, the Google subsidiary Youtube billion earned, for example, with advertising that is played with pieces of music featured artist. For Youtube arranged packages with up to 50 songs of the artist. The musicians should be more involved in the Proceeds. Similar applies to journalistic products. Google should lose the interest on newspaper articles, there would be a gap in the newspaper houses and the new company might encounter. The IT industry associations Bitkom and Eco opposed the change.
May fail to Reform?
Yes, it’s just a compromise on an informal level was found. Both Co-legislators, the EU Parliament and the 28 member States in the Council, must agree. Normally, nothing burns. But here there is the risk that there is in Parliament a majority against the Reform. The votes in the Parliament are always assumed to be extremely scarce. The opponents of Reform to mobilize already available for demonstrations. It is impossible to predict how the vote in Parliament, which will take place in the next few weeks.
What Google says about this?
More about
EU debate on the legal protection of Why Google & co. for content that should numbers
Caroline Fetscher
Google wants to analyze the new policy according to its own data in Detail and then decide on the next steps. This will “take some time”.