Today, a new information campaign is launched to raise awareness about Article 13 of the EU's preliminary draft of a new copyright directive. Article 13 of the directive text aims to give creators fair terms in negotiations with user-generated platforms such as YouTube and Facebook. TONO is one of the partners in the Europe for Creators initiative, which is behind the campaign.
/ 16/01/2019 / Kristian DugstadToday, a new information campaign is launched to raise awareness about Article 13 of the EU's preliminary draft of a new copyright directive. Article 13 of the directive text aims to give creators fair terms in negotiations with user-generated platforms such as YouTube and Facebook. TONO is one of the partners in the initiative
Europe for Creators, who is behind the campaign.
Today launches Europe for Creators campaign page article13.org. The website is designed to provide impartial and objective information on Article 13, a part of the directive text that directly addresses the problem known as the Value Gap and Transfer of Value. In practice, the implementation of the provisional text of Article 13 would mean that ordinary copyright principles would apply to user-generated platforms. This would provide fair bargaining opportunities for creators in relation to such services.
These companies claim to be free from responsibility for the content uploaded by their users, despite the fact that they have enormous financial benefits from the traffic generated. They succeed in this because of a loophole in the EU's E-Commerce Directive. A loophole that Article 13 can close.
“Spotify has a tenth of YouTube's users, but pays out almost three times as much.” Quote from Europe for Creators.
The article is currently in the final round of negotiations in the EU system, with the final vote taking place in March-April 2019. Full timeline for the consideration of Article 13 can be found here.
The negotiation process is under intense pressure, and YouTube is conducting intense campaigning and lobbying. If they succeed in their influence, the content of Article 13 could be changed to such an extent that the legislation becomes useless.
Europe for Creators' information campaign and the website article13.org will shine a spotlight on this negative development. As one of the partners in the initiative, TONO encourages everyone to share the campaign and spread information about this important process.