[x-pubpol] Fwd: After ACTA, EU kicks off 'Licences for Europe' copyright reform

[Joly MacFie]

http://www.zdnet.com/after-acta-eu-kicks-off-licences-for-europe-copyright-reform-7000010828/


Copyright reform: Europe works on finer stick-carrot balance

By Liam Tung


Launched in Brussels on Monday by the EC's digital agenda commissioner
Neelie Kroes, the initiative is Europe's second crack at copyright
reform after it roundly rejected the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade
Agreement (ACTA) treaty last year.

The initiative will attempt to answer how copyright laws can be
updated and harmonised across Europe by encouraging industry and
consumers to negotiate short-term solutions to copyright as a first
step and rely on legislation to settle longer term problems.

One option put forward yesterday by the EU's commissioner for
education Androulla Vassiliou was "one click" licensingfor granting
licences.

Kroes had flagged six areas of copyright reform the EC was to focus on
after ACTA's collapse last year[1], which have been boiled down to
four questions under Licences for Europe and concern cross-border
portability, online availability of films, content re-use, and how to
deal with text and data mining.

"I am convinced that we can provide responses to each of these
questions on an essentially contractual or technological basis," said
Michel Barnier[2], commissioner for internal market and services.

The initiative is aiming to strike a balance between fostering
innovation in digital services and ensuring copyright owners are
rewarded while avoiding the need to implement tough penalties for
copyright.

Kroes urged Europeans "not to prejudge the outcome"[3] and the
legislation that may arise through the process.

"So we are launching this initiative to show technology and copyright
can go together. I am not too keen on heavy-handed legislative
measures. They aren't always needed; and sometimes, pragmatic and
easy-to-implement solutions are just as valid. The goal is to adjust
current practices or get rid of costly inefficiencies," said Kroes.

Kroes pointed to the dampening effect Spotify has had on music piracy
in Sweden and the growth of e-book sales the UK to illustrate the
internet was not an inherent threat to copyright and conversely could
be a valuable discovery tool that benefited both creative industries
and scientists.

'A parody of debate'

Although Licences for Europe appears to be a novel attempt to divert
copyright conflict away from treaties such as ACTA and the newer
Trans-Pacific Partnership Treaty, some groups are not happy with the
initiative.

"EU citizens must engage with their representatives and urge them to
courageously call for reforming a copyright regime gone mad" — Jérémie
Zimmermann

Digital rights group La Quadrature du Net slammed the initiative as a
"parody of debate" dominated by the entertainment industry.

"It is a shame that the European Commission, led by French
commissioner Michel Barnier, is playing the industry's game instead of
fostering the general interest and listening to the millions of
citizens who opposed ACTA as well as the European Parliament which
massively rejected it," Jérémie Zimmermann, spokesperson for the
group, said in a statement.[4]

"More than ever, EU citizens must engage with their representatives
and urge them to courageously call for reforming a copyright regime
gone mad, which has come to threaten our society's fundamental values,
users' freedoms and the very structure of a free internet. No citizen
should agree to the terms and conditions of these Licences for
Europe."

[1] http://www.zdnet.com/copyright-reform-europe-works-on-finer-stick-carrot-balance-7000008417/
[2] http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-13-97_en.htm
[3] http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-13-96_en.htm#PR_metaPressRelease_bottom
[4] http://www.laquadrature.net/en/the-eu-commissions-outrageous-attempt-to-avoid-copyright-reform





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