A senior official within the EU has said that the continent’s copyright laws are in urgent need of reform.
Sabine Verheyen, an EPP group coordinator on the European Parliament’s culture and education committee, fears that the cultural diversity of the 28-nation bloc could be compromised by outdated legislation.
Her comments come as countries consider ways to change the EU’s ageing intellectual property framework, which was implemented in 2001.
Writing for the Parliament Magazine, Ms Verheyen said: “More must be done to raise awareness and promote legal content and its portability within the internal market. It is time for legal certainty.
“The fast pace of technical innovation in recent years has meant that technology has now outgrown the legislation. Digitisation does not only make our lives easier in a number of ways, it has also led to challenges for European and national legislators.”
Ms Verheyen said that reform presented an ideal opportunity to position Europe as “the place to be” for creative businesses.
“The EU has a lead that it must capitalise on, having the most innovative and diverse creative sectors and huge potential in its languages, whether we are talking about music, film, publishing or other cultural sectors.
“In order to maintain this lead, copyright is the fundamental tool for ensuring that creators are incentivised and fairly rewarded for their work. Copyright legislation should, however, also consider the services and interests of all parties involved in the creative value chain.”
Günther Oettinger, European digital economy and society commissioner, has already confirmed that draft legislation, aiming to update intellectual property laws for the digital age, will be published in the autumn.