Aktuelles

Das deutsche Leistungsschutzrecht für Presseverleger stellt eine Markteintrittshürde für Startups dar und verhindert damit die Umsetzung innovativer Ideen. Die Pläne zur Einführung eines EU-weiten Leistungsschutzrechts werden zu demselben Ergebnis führen und den Innovationsstandort EU massiv gefährden. Aus diesem Grund unterstützt der Bundesverband Deutsche Startups e.V. die Initiative gegen ein Leistungsschutzrecht.

Weiter

Vor mittlerweile 17 Monaten hat die EU-Kommission ihren Vorschlag für eine neue Urheberrechtsrichtlinie präsentiert. Im Europäischen Parlament, genauer gesagt in dessen Rechtsausschuss, verhandelt man aber immer noch über die eigene Verhandlungsposition. In einem Interview mit Friedhelm Greis für Golem.de hat Verhandlungsführer MEP Axel Voss (EVP) gezeigt, dass er weder Argumente für ein Leistungsschutzrecht noch Ahnung vom Internet hat. Weiter

Seit dem 1. Januar hat Bulgarien die Präsidentschaft im Europäischen Rat inne. Dort versucht man aktuell, sich auf eine gemeinsame Position zum Vorschlag der EU-Kommission für eine neue Urheberrechtsrichtlinie zu verständigen. Der Kompromiss, den Bulgarien nun in puncto Leistungsschutzrecht für Presseverleger vorgeschlagen hat, ist an Ignoranz kaum zu überbieten. Weiter

Lange hat es gedauert, endlich gibt es einen Koalitionsvertrag. Von einem "Leistungsschutzrecht für Presseverleger" wird darin allerdings nicht gesprochen. Stattdessen gibt es dazu nur vage Aussagen. Weiter

Within the EU Parliament's Legal Committee (JURI), the discussions about the Commission's proposal for a new copyright directive are still dragging on. However, with MEP Axel Voss (EVP, Germany) as the Committee's rapporteur it is very likely that the terrible idea of an ancillary copyright for press publications a.k.a. the link tax will be supported. But the situation looks completely different in the EU Council where the number of varying opinions on this topic could hardly be any larger. Weiter

Vergangene Woche haben sich 20 Vertreter deutscher Wagniskapitalinvestoren und Business Angels mit einem offenen Brief an die Mitglieder des Europäischen Parlaments gerichtet. Darin üben sie scharfe Kritik an den Urheberrechtsplänen der EU-Kommission, speziell am Vorschlag für ein europäisches Leistungsschutzrecht für Presseverleger. Weiter

Die Nachrichtensendung "Arte Journal" hat sich vergangenen Freitag in einem prägnanten Beitrag mit den EU-Plänen für ein Leistungsschutzrecht für Presseverleger auseinandergesetzt. Dafür wurde u.a. Dr. Till Kreutzer von IGEL interviewt. Der Beitrag ist jetzt online verfügbar. Weiter

A few weeks ago, several press agencies have joined the large publishing houses in their ongoing lobbying for a new neighbouring right. Carlos Astiz, Chairman of the European Innovative Media Publishers, was disappointed by this endorsement and stood once again to take a stance for the smaller publishers, content creators and journalists. Weiter

What once seemed to be a single incident turned out to be a habit: Once again it has been revealed that the EU Commission tried to hide the results of a self-requested copyright-related study because the results were not suitable. This time the study is all about "Online News Aggregation and Neighbouring Rights for News Publishers". Weiter

Some of Europe's largest press agencies urge the EU institutions to introduce the proposed ancillary copyright for publishers plus they also want to belong to the beneficiaries. Among those agencies are the German DPA, the French AFP as well as the Spanish EFE. Weiter

A couple of months ago, the European Parliament’s directorate general for internal policies of the union had commissioned a study on the proposed new right for publishers. After the results were published last October, they were finally presented to members of the Legal Affairs Committee yesterday. What should have been an informing workshop turned out to be yet another opportunity for the right's supporters to shut down arguments with their lies and to cause confusion. Weiter

Together with over 80 other organizations, we have co-signed an open letter to the Ministers attending the Competitiveness Council and the EU institutions last week to once again warn them of causing severe damage. Weiter

Today, the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) has finally voted on its opinion on the Commission's proposal for a new copyright directive. While problematic provisions for mandatory content filtering have been tackled, the Committee did not take any stand when it came to the ancillary copyright for press publishers aka the link tax. Weiter

Vergangene Woche wurden Überlegungen aus Großbritannien zur Regulierung von sozialen Medien bekannt. Man denke darüber nach, Google, Facebook und Co. als Verlage einzustufen, um sie so strengeren Kontrollfpflichten zu unterwerfen. Im Interview mit dem Deutschlandfunk Kultur machte Dr. Till Kreutzer deutlich, dass er dies für den ganz falschen Schritt hält. Weiter

Now that is some good news! An independent study reviewing the publisher's right a.k.a. link tax that had been requested by the European Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) has just been published this week. It confirms once and for all what we and others were saying for quite some time now: the link tax will be harmful and should therefore be abandoned right away. Weiter

Anfang dieser Woche fand in Stuttgart der Jahreskongress des Bundesverbands Deutscher Zeitungsverleger (BDZV) statt. Unmittelbar davor hatten die "Stuttgarter Nachrichten" ein Interview mit EU-Kommissar Günther Oettinger veröffentlicht, das bei vielen Verlegern für Freudentränen gesorgt haben wird. Denn der Politiker hat sich mal wieder für ein europäisches Verlegerrecht stark gemacht – undifferenziert und uninformiert wie eh und je. Weiter

Back in July, the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) of the EU parliament suggested a few changes to the Commission's initial proposal for a new publisher's right. One of them is to remove the explicit exception for academic and scientific publications as found in recital 33 of the draft directive. This combined with the already extensive COM proposal would result in a tremendous threat to Open Content and Open Access publishing. Weiter

Datenanalysen haben gewaltiges Potenzial für die Forschung und innovative Wirtschaftszweige. Erst sie ermöglichen es, die Potenziale der Informationsgesellschaft in reales und nutzbares Wissen umzuwandeln. Weiter

Summer break is over. Statewatch has leaked a compromise proposal from the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the European Union to the EU Commission's initial proposal for a directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market. When it comes to Article 11 containing the ancillary copyright for press publishers, the Presidency does not come up with only one but with two completely different proposals. Weiter

The publishers pushing for their new right a.k.a. the link tax want to be paid first and foremost by providers of news aggregators and search engines. They demand a fee for the provider's service of linking to their publications and bringing them visitors hence money. Despite the unmatched absurdity of this idea, what numbers are we actually talking about? Weiter

Already three out of five EP Committees have voted on their opinion on the Commission's Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. So far it seems we are heading into a future where a European wide publisher's right will be present. One particular Committee even tries to directly attack open access publishing. Weiter

After the European Parliament's Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) voted on its opinion on the new Copyright Directive a month ago, it were the Committees for Culture and Education (CULT - opinion) and for Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE - opinion) that both had their turns yesterday. The result: the suggestion of an even worse ancillary copyright for press publishers. Weiter

The European Commission's proposal for an ancillary copyright for press publishers has received a tremendous amount of criticism from many MEPs of all groups of the European Parliament. But now the largest group, the European People's Party (EPP), has adopted a joint position that fully supports the Commission's line while ignoring the European people's voices and all academic advice. Weiter

German courts have to deal with a variety of lawsuits that involve the German ancillary copyright for press publishers. But Google's design changes might bringt a sudden end. Weiter

The Spanish link tax is indeed no success story. All it "achieved" so far is the permanent shutdown of Google News Spain which led to a large drop in publishers' site views while not accumulating a single euro. Although this situation will change with the just closed deal, it first and foremost tries to shamelessly fool us into thinking that the link tax is actually working. Weiter

The European Commission regularly makes use of surveys to gather a wide array of opinions from various stakeholders. But when the result does not meet the preconceived view, its relevance will simply be denied, as it seems. Weiter

Almost a month ago, in mid May 2017, the draft opinion of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) on the EU-Commission's proposal for a new copyright directive has officially been published. As things just turned out, some hardliners suddenly want to amend it so that it will be strongly in favour of an ancillary copyright for press publishers. Weiter

This morning, the European Parliament's Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) voted on the Copyright in the Digital Single Market directive (2016/0280(COD)) as the first of five committees. The outcome is of great significance to the other votes that are yet to come. Unfortunately, the ancillary copyright for press publishers is still very much alive. Weiter

With the support of the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), the European Policy Centre (EPC) has published a new discussion paper titled "Rewarding quality journalism or distorting the Digital Single Market? The case for and against neighbouring rights for press publishers". It is divided into an economy analysis (part I) and a legal analysis (part II). Weiter

In her just published blog post, MEP Julia Reda (Greens/EFA) draws attention to the alarming developments within the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) Committee. Instead of joining the committee's internal negotiations, Belgian MEP Pascal Arimont (EPP) is currently gathering support for his own "Alternative Compromise Amendment on Publisher’s Right" which is the worst we have seen so far in this debate. Weiter