Most EU nations agree on online copyright reforms
brussels — The European Union’s effort to rewrite two-decade old copyright rules to take into account online platforms such as Alphabet’s Google moved a step forward when a majority of member countries agreed on a common position for talks with lawmakers this week.
Negotiations stalled last month after EU countries failed to bridge their differences, among them whether small companies should be subjected to the rules, which critics blamed on lobbying by Google and others.
Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Luxembourg, Malta and Slovakia did not agree to the draft, however. The EU now has to reconcile its stance with that of the European Commission and the European Parliament.
The commission, which opened debate on the issue two years ago, has said the revamp will protect Europe’s cultural heritage and level the playing field between big online companies and publishers, broadcasters and artists. EU digital chief Andrus Ansip said he hoped they could reach a deal at talks on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“Glad to see EU countries once again finding a common voice on copyright reform... I hope for a final agreement next week. Europeans deserve copyright rules fit for digital age: it is good for creators, platforms and for regular internet users,” Ansip said on Twitter.
Lobbying groups the European Magazine Media Association, the European Newspaper Publishers’ Association, the European Publishers Council and News Media Europe welcomed the agreement but said more should be done to protect their rights.
“It would still lead to substantial legal uncertainty for press publishers as it does not protect with sufficient clarity the use of press content by news aggregators and search engines, which is the whole purpose of a right,” they said in a joint statement. —