The copyright directive has been approved today, although deeply checked 11th and 13th articles remain.
Today European Parliament, plenary gathered in Strasbourg, has approved with 438 ‘yes’, 226 ‘no’ and 38 abstained, the directive on copyright. MEPs also had to examine dozens of amendments on the text about the copyright drew up after the rejection occurred in July. Compared to the first text, the directive has been deeply modified, although preserving the thorniest articles, 11th and 13th, after all the adjustments in several procedural steps.
The hyper-textual links will not be taxed, even though the 11th article has been called the ‘link tax’. European Union can still decide to force the State members to provide the editors of “journalistic publications” with rights to let them “obtain a just and proportioned remuneration for the digital use of their publications by information providers”. However, the obligation allows the usage of those publications in a non-commercial and private way.
The 13th article has been modified by including a measure called ‘upload filter’. Every online platform has to “sign license contracts with copyright-owners, unless the latter intend to have a license guaranteed or in the case of impossibility in stipulating one”. Without an agreement, suppliers of such online services have to be sure that there will be “appropriate and proportioned measures which could lead to the unavailability of works or other arguments that could break the copyright and any related right”.
