Today, the 26th of March 2019, marks a historic moment in the history of copyright and internet regulation as the European Parliament voted in favour of the new Copyright Directive.
The result of the European Parliament’s vote were 348 votes in favour, 274 against and 36 abstentions.
In a nutshell, the Copyright Directive is meant to reform EU copyright laws to ensure that the same remain adequate in today’s digital age.
The Copyright Directive has been in the pipeline for at least two years and has faced very heavy opposition primarily due to two very controversial articles, namely, Article 11 which creates a right for publishers to be compensated when online aggregators reproduce snippets of their posted news or information and Article 13 which renders internet platforms directly liable for infringing content posted to their platforms by users.
The text of the Copyright Directive is now pending formal approval from the Council of Europe before becoming European Law. Following the completion of this process, European Member States will be allowed two years within which to transpose the Copyright Directive and implement the same within their national laws.
Article by Dr Terence Cassar.
For more information on Internet Regulation, Copyright, Intellectual Property and related areas please contact Dr Ian Gauci on igauci@gtgadvocates.com and Dr Terence Cassar on tcassar@gtgadvocates.com.
This article is not intended to impart legal advice and readers are asked to seek verification of statements made before acting on them.