EU Commission consultation on platforms and online intermediaries
1 January 2016
Contributions
SAA supports the development of a thriving, culturally diverse, European online market for audiovisual works which will give European citizens broader access to works from across our continent and reward the creativity of Europe’s screenwriters and directors.
This consultation demonstrates the challenges ahead in terms of regulating platforms active in the audiovisual sector.
- Definition and impact – Defining platforms and regulating very different kinds of service is a significant challenge. For the audiovisual sector alone SAA identifies 3 distinct categories of platform which can be addressed from several policy angles.
- Transparency – Platforms’ lack of transparency complicates licensing negotiations and limits the ability of authors to be fairly remunerated for the exploitation of their works.
- Remuneration – Audiovisual authors should be fairly remunerated for every exploitation of their work, including online. An unwaivable right to remuneration for online exploitation, paid by platforms and that would be collectively managed would guarantee this.
- Regulatory forum shopping - A fair, competitive and culturally diverse market depends upon forum shopping around requirements for audiovisual media services or taxation being tackled.
- Visibility of European works - SAA is concerned that commercial practices (e.g. using prominence of blockbusters to attract customers) combined with automated recommendation algorithms will reduce the visibility and profitability of Europe’s culturally diverse range of audiovisual production.
- Unlicensed platforms and piracy - Piracy through unlicensed platforms restricts the development of a vibrant audiovisual market online. SAA supports the ‘follow the money’ approach to interrupt pirates’ revenue streams, efficient ‘notice & stay down’ mechanisms, as well as a review of the IPRED Directive.
- Abuse of liability exemption - Alongside piracy, some platforms abuse Art 14 of the E-Commerce Directive and claim no liability for the copyright protected works on their services. Liability exemptions are for pure technical passive intermediaries only and not online platforms who benefit commercially from the communication of works to the public.
Download to read the full contribution.