After negotiations that lasted over two years, the European Parliament has approved the copyright reform in the EU. The green light - which was not taken for granted, due to some divisions among the Popolari - came with 348 votes in favor (including those of the Democratic Party and Forza Italia), 274 against (including the Lega and Movimento 5 Stelle) and 36 abstentions. The proposal to reopen the text arrived from 38 MEPs was rejected. The EU states will have two years to transpose the directive into their legal systems.
WHAT DOES THE NEW EUROPEAN DIRECTIVE ON COPYRIGHT PROVIDE?
But what does the new EU directive on copyright provide? The most important news is that the giants of the web – from Google to Facebook, via YouTube and Twitter – will have to agree with whoever owns the copyright of the contents used on the net and pay them a fair compensation for the material displayed.
The most contested article of the directive is number 13, which obliges online platforms to automatically filter the material uploaded by users, removing the one covered by copyright.
Newspaper publishers will also be able to negotiate agreements (which remain optional) on the editorial content used by newspapers news aggregators. THE Journalists they will have to collect a share of the copyright revenues obtained by their publisher.
The so-called snippet – the few lines with which the articles are presented, for example on Google News or on Facebook posts – remain outside the protection of copyright.
Also meme e GIF are excluded from the scope of the directive.
Finally, the startup with fewer than 5 million unique visitors per month they will be subject to less stringent obligations.
DOES THE LINK TAX REALLY EXIST?
Warning: the directive does not impose any costs on users, does not limit their activity in any way and does not hinder the development of web 2.0 sites such as Wikipedia. It is important to clarify this point, because the large companies damaged by the reform have spared no effort in lobbying activities, reaching the point of spreading a series of fake news to get public opinion on your side. The most imaginative hoax concerns precisely a phantom "tax link”, which does not actually exist.
GOOGLE'S REACTION…
“The copyright directive has improved – commented Google after its approval – but it will still lead to legal uncertainty and impact on Europe's creative and digital economies. Details matter and we look forward to working with politicians, publishers, creators and rights holders as EU member states move to implement these new rules."
…AND THAT OF THE PUBLISHERS
The reaction of Carlo Perrone, president of the European Publishers Association (Enpa), is quite different, speaking of a “great victory for the press in Italy” and “a historic vote for the soul and culture of Europe. Reform will be essential to the future of print publishers and professional journalism. Web users are now guaranteed a democratic and pluralist internet”.
On Monday some of the big names in Italian music (Mogul, Morricone, Piovani and Conte) had launched an appeal in favor of the green light for the directive.
