Last week the European Commission said that it had agreed how to move ahead in modernising copyright to protect authors and artists in the digital economy.
In a statement, the EU executive said that it aimed to ensure copyright remained “fit for purpose” in the digital economy and that it will “work for a modern copyright framework that guarantees effective recognition and remuneration of rights holders in order to provide sustainable incentives for creativity, cultural diversity and innovation”.
Its aim is to give “greater access and a wider choice of legal offers to end users” while allowing new business models to emerge while combating illegal offers and piracy.
Consequently, the Commission will launch a dialogue with stakeholders in 2013 and decide by the end of the year whether legislative reforms are needed.
The Society of Audiovisual Authors (SAA), which represents some 120,000 screenwriters and film and TV directors, welcomed the move and around 16,000 people have signed an SAA petition to protect copyright in the digital age, including film directors Wim Wenders and Ken Loach.
Vice President of the European Commission Neelie Kroes said that the time is right for the EU to look at this issue, as many of the current rules have been in place since before YouTube, Facebook and Twitter existed and the laws regarding copyright in the EU are very fragmented.
What Ms Kroes hopes to come from the move forward is a framework that adapts to the digital era, not one with 27 different systems, but one that acts across the EU as a whole, so that artists, entrepreneurs and citizens benefit from a borderless, digital single market, where accessing and distributing content is easy and legal, thereby generating more value and more visibility.