New Copyright Directive Backed by EU Lawmakers

Yesterday's article focused on the controversial new EU copyright directive which lawmakers were set to vote on in Strasbourg. The results of the vote are now in; the new copyright reforms have been backed by EU lawmakers.

The results of yesterday's vote will no doubt have caused critics of the reforms to feel a certain level of disappointment. As mentioned in yesterday's article (which can be read here), it is the tech giants such as Facebook and Google who are going to feel the effects of the new reforms most. The new laws will mean these internet streaming companies will likely have to install technological filters which will pick out copyright protected work being uploaded illegally on their sites at the point of upload, and not rely on user reports or post-upload monitoring. Many people were concerned that this would spell the end of the internet where content from memes to articles links would be censored and filtered out.

The more controversial parts of the new directive are Article 11 and Article 13. Article 11 will force online platforms, such as Google News, to have to pay news organisations for sharing their content. Article 13 will force internet streaming sites to take effective measures to ensure that rights holders are being fairly remunerated for their work that is hosted.

Those in favour of the new reforms will be celebrating the changes that the new directive will bring. Artists, authors and creators have been lobbying against internet giants for a substantial amount of time and will be pleased that lawmakers have taken their concerns in to account. Many, but not all, of those in the creative industries have been campaigning for the reforms alleging that the current copyright regime does not compel hosts to sufficiently pay them for their work.

The European Parliament, the European Commission and the European Council will now discuss the new reforms before each individual nation in the EU will decide on how it will implement the new reforms.

If you have any questions on the above, please do not hesitate to contact the team at McDaniel & Co. on 0191 281 4000 or legal@mcdanielslaw.com.