Friday, July 13, 2018

EU rejects draft copyright legislation; publisher groups object

The European Union has voted against legislation aimed at reforming online copyright. The July 5 vote in the European Parliament saw 318 members voting against the draft law and 278 in favor.
Articles 11 and 13 of the draft Copyright Directive have gotten the most attention. Article 11 would have compelled platforms such as Google and Facebook to pay news organizations to link to their content. Article 13 called for a “upload filter” that would force a copyright check on all content to be posted online.
A joint statement from the European Newspapers Publishers’ Association, European Magazine Media Association, European Publishers Council and News Media Europedubbed the legislation “crucial” and said European Parliament members were “succumbing to an intense lobby of manipulative anti-copyright campaigners, U.S. internet giants and vested interests who benefit from stealing and monetizing publishers’ valuable content.”
MEPs will now be asked to make changes to the draft and the amended draft will be presented in September for the full parliament to vote on again.
“MEPs asked to reconsider the proposal need to think about the impact their next decision will have on our free press and on the future of professional journalism — and what message they want to communicate to the world about democracy and fairness in Europe,” said the joint statement from the publisher group.

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