Copyright and the Press Publishers Right on the Internet: Evolutions and Perspectives

Abstract

Article 11 (due to the legal cleaning of the text of the Digital Single Market Directive 2019/790/EU, article numbers have changed; consequently, Article 11 of the Proposal is now Article 15, while the similarly contentious provision under Article 13 on the use of protected content by information society service providers has been renumbered as Article 17) of the Proposal for a Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market constitutes one of the most debated provisions of the legislative corpus that demonstrates the ambitious transition of the European acquis to the digital era. The introduction of an exclusive related right to press publishers for the digital uses of their content formed a casus belli within this long-term and rather adventurous legislative initiative. Eventually, a compromise was reached after two and a half years that the debate was launched and the tough negotiations that intervened; on February 13, 2019, the relevant trilogue negotiations were successfully concluded, reaching an agreement on a compromise text for the Copyright Directive, including the new press publishers right (Rosati 2019. http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2019/02/breaking-agreement-on-dsm-directive.html). This chapter explores all the key issues of the new right on press publications, demonstrating the objectives sought through its establishment, while providing an analysis of the legal and economic background from both sides of this persisting controversy. At first, the relevant initiatives undertaken at national level, and foremost, the examples of Germany and Spain are analyzed to demonstrate the inspiration for the introduction of a harmonized right for press publishers. Thereafter, the main arguments against this legislative step are investigated, demonstrating the substantive pillars and the reactions that the European Commission experienced in this field. It should be noted that this opposition had also crept into the European institutions themselves since the European Parliament had first rejected the Committee Draft of the Proposal in what has been described as a “surprising turn of events” (Rauer et al., European Parliament votes to reject controversial Copyright Directive proposal, 2018a). Lastly, the final text of the proposed Article 11 (renumbered Article 15) as adopted by the European Parliament is presented, further including the rationale behind and the objectives pursued under its establishment. On the eve of a radical overhaul of the EU copyright system, it is important that we realize the substance of this new right and the “tangible benefits” (European Commission, Digital Single Market: EU negotiators reach a breakthrough to modernise copyright rules (Press Release). http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-19-528_en.htm) aiming at yielding to European press publishers and journalists for the massive online re-use of their content. After all, it consists one of the cornerstones of this crucial reform that has been described as making the future of Europe possible…