CDT Raises Concerns About Leaked EC Copyright Revamp Proposals

Leaked proposals for the European Commission’s planned copyright law revamp “raise some troubling issues,” said Center for Democracy and Technology fellow Stan Adams in a Tuesday blog post. The commission may propose a pan-EU ancillary copyright aimed at allowing publishers to claim royalties from news aggregation services (see 1608290062). Similar ancillary rights in Germany and Spain haven’t worked as intended, Adams said. “Despite the questionable legal basis for this proposal, and despite the fact that publishers could easily configure their sites to limit or block automated access to the content therein, the Commission believes that creating this new right will benefit both publishers and consumers, who will enjoy the ‘enhanced availability of quality content in the long-term.’” The EC is also exploring a proposal to require ISPs hosting or storing user-generated content to “take appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure the functioning of agreements concluded with right holders." Even “when dressed in the language of contractual agreements, this looks very much like a general obligation to monitor, which Article 15 of the [EC’s] E-Commerce Directive explicitly bars,” Adams said. “This proposal seems to go against some of the goals of the Digital Single Market Strategy, like making the EU an environment in which digital startups can thrive.”