The European Union’s effort to rewrite
two-decade old copyright rules to take into account online platforms
such as Alphabet Inc’s Google moved a step forward on Friday when a
majority of member countries agreed on a common position for talks with
lawmakers next 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 next 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.
Article 11 of the proposal, which would force companies like Google and
Microsoft Corp to pay publishers for displaying news snippets, and
Article 13, which requires online platforms such as YouTube and
Instagram to install filters to prevent users from uploading copyrighted
materials, have been the most controversial.
EU lawmaker Julia Reda from the Pirate Party criticized a compromise
reached by France and Germany on small companies and called on Europeans
to pressure lawmakers to reject the deal.
“That French-German deal is actually more extreme than previous
versions, requiring all platforms older than three years to
automatically censor all their users’ uploads, and putting unreasonable
burdens even on the newest companies,” she said.
EU countries also reached a joint position for next week’s negotiations
with EU lawmakers and the Commission on rules known as the
platform-to-business (P2B) law aimed at curbing the powers of companies
such as Google and Apple Inc.
Unveiled by the Commission in April last year, the proposed legislation
seeks to prevent unfair business practices by app stores, search
engines, e-commerce sites and hotel booking websites in a bid to ensure a
level playing field between the tech companies and traditional
businesses.
Amazon Marketplace, eBay, Apple App Store, Google Play, Facebook
Marketplace, Booking.com and Leboncoin.fr are among the companies that
would be affected by the proposal.
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