SAA - Society of Audiovisual Authors

Expert seminar on Art 18 DSM and fair remuneration

Last month’s digest was sent just before our expert seminar on Article 18 of the DSM Directive, which I moderated on 30 September, with more than 140 people connecting from all over the world on the day. Our experts were Prof. Séverine Dusollier (Sciences Po Law School, Paris), Ricardo Gómez Cabaleiro (DAMA, Spain), Dr Tomasz Targosz (Partner, Traple Konarski Podrecki & Wspólnicy), and MEP Axel Voss (EPP, Germany). I don’t want to sound biased, but the feedback from participants was unanimous: the seminar was genuinely insightful. The experience of Spain and Poland shows that unwaivable remuneration rights managed by CMOs work. Spanish authors have relied on such a right since 1967, and Polish authors since 1994. Both countries have extended it to streaming, with no evidence of harm to investment in production. The timing couldn’t be more relevant: the Commission is reviewing the Directive, and the Court of Justice of the EU is considering the Streamz case. Our experts agreed that whatever the outcome of the case, the goal of Article 18 remains the same: fair remuneration for the people whose creativity the audiovisual sector depends on. Watch the recording and the takeaways of the expert seminar.

An evening with MEPs in Strasbourg

October started with a couple of days in Strasbourg for the SAA Board of Directors’ meeting and our annual dinner with MEPs at the European Parliament, alongside SAA members and authors and in partnership with our colleagues from FERA and FSE. This year’s dinner was co-hosted by Sabine Verheyen, Vice-President of the Parliament, and Emma Rafowicz, Vice-Chair of the Culture Committee. We had the pleasure of welcoming 60 guests, including MEPs from across several countries and political groups, proof that support for European film, authors’ rights and cultural diversity cuts across party lines. Katarzyna Klimkiewicz, a FERA and ZAPA board member, SAA Patron and Polish director, highlighted the dilemma many screen directors face today: working with independent producers and relying on public funding often means long waiting periods and inadequate compensation, while pitching projects directly to streaming platforms can offer fairer and more timely pay, but often at the cost of creative freedom. Read our highlights from the speeches and see some of the photos from the evening.

As the LUX Audience Award 2027 launch date changed at short notice, we held our Strasbourg dinner on our own this time, rather than jointly as usual. Instead, we’ll celebrate the nominated talents together with the LUX Audience Award, CEPI, EPC and FERA on 25 November.

A visit from China

Together with my colleagues Luisiana and Maëlin, we had the pleasure of welcoming a delegation from the China Copyright Protection Center in the Authors’ House. It was a fascinating meeting, as authors’ rights are treated so differently there. I learned that Chinese courts are grappling with who bears responsibility when AI output, or even an AI agent, infringes copyright, as well as whether AI-generated output can be protected where there’s significant human involvement. This differs from European cases such as GEMA v OpenAI/Suno, which focus on the fact that AI models reproduce and make available protected works, meaning AI companies need licences, including from CMOs.

A trip to Dublin, for AI and human creativity

Afterwards, I went to Dublin for the Irish Presidency conference on human creativity in the age of AI, with speakers approaching the topic from different angles. As with our expert seminar, these discussions are timely: the Commission is preparing its response to the challenges and legal gaps that stakeholders identified during its June consultation. Executive Vice-President Virkkunen agreed that respect for copyright is necessary and denied that the Commission is in the pocket of AI companies. Emmanuelle du Chalard, from the Commission’s Copyright unit, highlighted that the lack of transparency about what content has been used is the key obstacle identified in the call for evidence, and that this is what makes licensing so difficult. Yordanka Ivanova, from the AI Office, said it is working to ensure compliance, and is looking at additional measures such as transparency requirements for crawlers. We’re following this closely, because frankly, these solutions were needed yesterday.

Change of plans...

Shortly after returning from Dublin, a bad flu crept up on me and left me bed-ridden for eight days, my first in at least two decades! As a result, my colleague Luisiana stepped in and presented SAA’s AI related activities online at the CISAC Legal and Policy Committee meeting in Dubrovnik, where I'd originally planned to travel myself.  Annica took part in the thematic workshop hosted by the EU Commission ahead of the upcoming ‘EU Artists’ Charter’, and Elise prepared our budget for next year’s activities.

After a week in France with my family and lots of vitamins, I’m back in the office, fully recovered and ready to welcome our members to Brussels for our biannual Council of General Policy meeting on 18 November.

Stay healthy!

Warm regards,

Cécile