On 26 September 2018, Emmanuel Verraes (partner IP, Media & Entertainment law Flinn) has underlined the necessity of a fair remuneration of authors and publishers in the European Parliament.
The European Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market, currently in preparation, will impose the member states to provide for an exception or limitation to the exclusive authors rights in order to allow for the digital use of works for the purpose of education (article 4). This use will, however, be subject to specific conditions to guard the exclusive rights and normal exploitation against far-reaching derogation.
Although the current proposal provides in a fair compensation for the harm incurred by the right holders due to such educational use, it does so in an optional wording only (“Member States may provide…”).
However, those rights are a component of the income creators live on and a necessary revenue for a lot of small and medium publishers. In situations where the exception does apply, it is vital that there is mandatory fair compensation to sustain the production of diverse and high quality content.
