EU adopts copyright reform

The more than controversial copyright reform were finally implemented today and a majority of the states of the EU have voted for it.

As can be seen, Germany also voted in favor of the reform. Now we can only hope that such uncompromising legislation against new media will be reflected in the European elections.

Germany has additionally issued a protocol note, which can be found here. In it, the federal government makes it clear that it sees only market-powerful platforms such as YouTube and Facebook, but probably also Twitter, Instagram and Twitch, as being obligated.

At the same time, we will clarify that services such as Wikipedia, university repositories, blogs and forums, software platforms such as Github, SpecialInterest offerings without references to the creative industries, messenger services such as WhatsApp, sales portals or cloud services are not platforms within the meaning of Article 17.

Whether this can really be implemented as other countries see it and implement it in their local legislation within the next two years, or whether a lack of implementation will not then lead to infringement proceedings by the EU, will probably have to wait and see.

Likewise, there is a statement on things like cartoons and other political content of opinion making

The use of protected content on upload platforms, for example for criticism and reviews or for caricatures, parodies and pastiches, or within the framework of the quotation barrier, is also permitted without any remuneration being payable: here, the rights holder does not incur any relevant economic losses anyway. For uses beyond this, platforms shall acquire licenses, to the extent available at fair rates and with reasonable effort.

Author: Marian Härtel

Marian Härtel ist Rechtsanwalt und Fachanwalt für IT-Recht mit einer über 25-jährigen Erfahrung als Unternehmer und Berater in den Bereichen Games, E-Sport, Blockchain, SaaS und Künstliche Intelligenz. Seine Beratungsschwerpunkte umfassen neben dem IT-Recht insbesondere das Urheberrecht, Medienrecht sowie Wettbewerbsrecht. Er betreut schwerpunktmäßig Start-ups, Agenturen und Influencer, die er in strategischen Fragen, komplexen Vertragsangelegenheiten sowie bei Investitionsprojekten begleitet. Dabei zeichnet sich seine Beratung durch einen interdisziplinären Ansatz aus, der juristische Expertise und langjährige unternehmerische Erfahrung miteinander verbindet. Ziel seiner Tätigkeit ist stets, Mandanten praxisorientierte Lösungen anzubieten und rechtlich fundierte Unterstützung bei der Umsetzung innovativer Geschäftsmodelle zu gewährleisten.