With the adoption of Directive 2019/790, one of the most extensive revisions of copyright legislation has ended. The legislative process, which began in 2016, was hotly debated, and many sources call this draft Directive the most lobbied of all. The purpose of the document is to ensure compliance with the rights and obligations provided for by copyright in the Internet space. Also, in the press release of the European Parliament, it is repeatedly noted that one of the priorities of the document is the preservation of guarantees of freedom of speech.
Innovations related to responsibility for content received the greatest resonance. If previously materials from the site had to be removed at the request of the right holder, now the responsibility for posted content rests with Internet sites. This means that before publishing material, the owner of the site must first obtain permission to do so. The same applies to content that was created by site users. In this aspect, the first difficulties appear, since there is an obvious advantage of large companies that already use an algorithm for searching for materials that violate copyright. And although the Directive provides certain relaxations to startups, nevertheless, the use of such algorithms by small and medium-sized companies can become burdensome.
Another novelty was the right of press publishers and journalists to demand fair remuneration from information service providers for the digital use of their publications. Previously, publishers could not control the appearance of their publications on information portals, but now the Directive gives journalists and publishers the right to grant licenses for the use of their materials. In this case, such large information service providers as GoogleNews and other information portals, which will be limited in republishing the material without the consent of the right holder, may become vulnerable. Exceptions in this case are hyperlinks, use of individual words and very short extracts. The directive does not specify the term “very short extracts”, so its interpretation is left to the discretion of the legislative bodies of each of the member states of the European Union.
Many sources express concern about how this Directive will be used in practice, because the provisions of the document are formulated in such a way that the right to explain many terms is granted by the national legislation of the countries of the European Union. The final implementation of the law should be completed by 2021. This is the period given to the authorities of the member states to bring their legislation into compliance with the adopted Directive.
Source: www.europarl.europa.eu