EU Approves Copyright Directive - What You Need to Know

This month, the European Parliament voted in favor of the Copyright Directive, a piece of legislation intending to update online copyright laws. The apparent goal of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market is to hold platforms with user content, like YouTube and Facebook, liable for copyright infringement. Or in the video game world, sites and communities like Roblox, VR Chat, Minecraft and others might be severely impacted.

Many companies, especially rights holders, are in favor of the Copyright Directive as it supports anti-piracy efforts. Many companies, however, particularly the platform corporations and the creators on those platforms, feel that the directive will cause mass censorship and an overall decline in online content from European companies.

The most controversial components of the Copyright Directive are currently Articles 11 and 13.

In short, Article 11 aims to give publishers and authors a way to make money when a website links to their stories, which will allow them to demand paid licenses. This has also been called a “link tax.” Basically, aggregators would need to pay when they link to a longer story. This could mean sites like Google and Facebook face claims or big bills from content creators or news sites. Advocates argue this provision is a benefit to journalism. The provision allows an exception for “insubstantial parts of a press publication” but it does not give guidance on what constitutes “insubstantial.”

Article 13 requires websites to filter and stop users from sharing unlicensed copyrighted material. Advocates, including some well-known musicians, argue that this will ensure that creators (like musicians) are protected from copyright infringement. Detractors argue that the provision will pose an impossible impediment to smaller and up-and-coming sites, stifling innovation and actually provide little benefit to creators.

It has also been argued that these two articles support copyright trolls. Article 13 in particular, some argue, would result in widespread censorship on platforms in order to keep copyrighted material safe as it might not be feasible to individually assess every single piece of content that comes through. Polygon’s overview puts things succinctly in terms of how things play out for the platforms,

The directive will face a final vote in January, 2019. It is important to note a few things.

First, this is a directive, not a regulation. What’s the difference? A directive is like a non-binding instruction to EU member nations. It would then need to be implemented by EU member states in whatever way each state decided. This is important because the different states may interpret the directive’s text in different ways, which could lead to a patchwork copyright regime across Europe.

Second, this is an EU directive. It has no legal effect outside of the EU. However, in a global marketplace, regulations in a market the size of the EU are likely to affect business and legal decisions elsewhere. Should a new platform seeking to build traffic on user-generated content launch in France or Canada? Will enforcing a copyright claim against infringement be most effective in Germany or the US? These and many other questions will hinge on the outcome of this vote and the subsequent implementation.

Finally, the United Kingdom is still in the middle of Brexit. Even if this is approved, it may not take effect in the UK