On February 8, the Ministry of Culture presented proposals for amendments to the Copyright Act. The aim is to give copyright holders better tools to enforce copyright on the Internet, while at the same time safeguarding privacy, legal certainty and freedom of expression.
/ 12/02/2013 / codexSince then, the online music market has matured, and the focus on websites such as The Pirate Bay has waned. Good, popular online music services such as WIMP, Spotify and Beat.no have entered the market to the delight of everyone who loves music and who wants to pay the rights holders for the music. Almost two weeks ago, Google launched YouTube in Norway in partnership with TONO, to the delight of both music lovers and creators. The world, seen from TONO's point of view, is radically different today than it was 4-5 years ago. There is much to be happy about!
Nevertheless, it is important that copyright holders are now given the legal opportunity to protect their investments and interests, and to be able to react if they are subjected to crime. Also, do not forget that copyright is a UN human right (art. 27, paragraph 2):
“Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.”
TONO is pleased that the government has tightened the implementation of the EU Copyright Directive Art. 8.3 in its proposal so that Norwegian law will now comply with the directive's intentions and the legislation of other EEA countries. In several EEA countries, internet providers are required to block websites where the content is mainly illegally published material. It is of course up to the courts to issue a judgment or order for any blocking. This is how it must be in a state governed by the rule of law.
TONO is occasionally asked whether we support blocking access to the Internet for individuals who have infringed copyright online. We have never been, and it is not in any way current policy for TONO to attempt to block private individuals' Internet access. We hope we have answered this question once and for all.
Furthermore, the government proposes that courts should be able to grant access to the identity behind an IP address. There are detailed procedural rules associated with this, but it appears that the threshold for granting such access should be the same as they are now in current law following the Supreme Court's decision in the Max Manus case in 2012.
The government chose not to send information letters/warning letters to subscribers via their internet provider, citing privacy concerns. This was as expected.
Overall, the proposal was as expected based on the consultation paper and appears to contain a reasonable balance between the interests of individuals, society and copyright holders.