Blog
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Online copyright: will the EU be a global front-runner or a bystander?
The negotiations between the European Commission, European Parliament (EP) and the Council of the European Union (EU) on the proposed Directive on ‘Copyright in the Digital Single Market’ will not only determine the rights and remuneration of audiovisual authors in Europe, it will also determine the positioning of the EU on the global stage: will the EU become a front-runner or a bystander?
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Copyright, a new world to me
A month ago, I started as the new Public Affairs and Communications Manager at SAA, after working 8 years with human rights in Brussels. While my background is with public affairs and communications, audiovisual authors’ rights are new for me. It has been exciting first weeks jumping into the subject and getting to know rapidly a few things:
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A screenwriter’s life
This was his moment. The opportunity he’d been waiting for. There he was at Studio Production. It was actually a stroke of luck: a common friend had shown his script to a contact at Studio Productions that had fallen in love with it. Steve got the call to come and sign the contract.
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Will 2018 be a Happy New Year for Audiovisual Authors?
The beginning of 2018 will most likely be the end of long and intense negotiations leading up to a final adoption of the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. The Directive proposal was presented by the European Commission in September 2016, and we have now reached the final stages of discussions.
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Broadcasting Regulation: When is retransmission retransmission?
The digital evolution of broadcasting, with the development of on-demand services, has led the European institutions to propose a reform of the 1993 CabSat Directive in the form of a new Regulation.
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Canal+ and EU Copyright – collective action necessary
Canal+, one of the most prominent investors in French cinema, has stopped paying the authors’ Collective Management Organisations the royalties due for films and TV series it broadcasts.
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Freedom of contract: fact and fiction
Freedom of contract is seen as a corner stone of much of modern business and is often a key argument against regulation. But sometimes contractual freedom is a fiction and to defend it is to perpetuate injustice.
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Is the fear of double pay making MEPs scared of ‘fair’ remuneration?
Double payment is the most consistent fear presented in opposition to the unwaivable remuneration right that would ensure screenwriters and directors are paid when their works are watched online.
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The complexity of "fair"
One of the overriding themes of the Copyright Directive proposal was to re-balance negotiations. The key word was “fair”. The Commission used this justification for its press publishers’ right, the value gap proposal and the transparency triangle.
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European Parliament Culture committee shows the way on audiovisual authors’ remuneration
Just months after a Resolution on the cultural and creative industries called for the “establishment of the right to fair remuneration and legal protection for authors”, MEPs have given a concrete sign that they want to make that call a reality.
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Authors’ Remuneration - The last resort: going to court
There is an interesting court case underway concerning the remuneration of an author that is attracting interest on both sides of the Atlantic.
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Who are Europe’s audiovisual authors ?
Europe is in the process of changing legislation on authors’ rights / copyright in Europe.
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