Proposal for a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market

The European Parliament continues the debates on the proposal for a directive that will regulate the rights of authors of various works within the digital single market. The main focus of the proposal is the relationship between the authors of content (persons who share photographs or texts of their own) and the providers of information society services such as linking, as well as the various forms of quotation, e.g. sharing of extracts of works. The Directive will introduce the obligation of organisers of content sharing platforms to conclude agreements with the rightholders and to use technical means to identify protected content and to remove it in cases of copyright infringements.

The proposed Directive is an integral part of the Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe of the European Commission. Its adoption will lead to change of the rules and working terms and conditions of all companies which share content created by third parties, including free-of-charge platforms. The debates on the proposal were postponed until September 2018.