Copyright must become central to the digitization strategy

We have today submitted our consultation input for a new national digitalization strategy. Read it here.

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 / 29/11/2023 / Willy Martinsen

TONO was established in 1928 and is a collective management organization for copyright holders of musical works. Our members are composers, lyricists and music publishers. TONO has 41,000 members, and also represents several million composers, lyricists and music publishers from other countries through reciprocal agreements with sister societies worldwide. TONO is a cooperative owned and managed by its members.

Disruptive digitalization

The emergence of the digital music market from around 2000 meant major upheavals for music creators, performers and the music industry in general. Where streaming services have normally followed the rules of the game and secured the necessary rights licenses from collective management organizations, it has been somewhat more challenging with user-generated platforms. However, the Copyright Directive from 2019 has contributed to this area also entering more ordinary, copyright-related contractual forms.

We are pleased that the new proposal for a revised Copyright Act, which was sent out for consultation on November 22, has as a clearly defined goal to strengthen the position of copyright holders. TONO would like to emphasize that the government's digitalization strategy must also emphasize the copyright holder perspective, not least in the face of artificial intelligence.

Copyright must become a central part of the digitization strategy

Artificial intelligence represents yet another upheaval, a new paradigm shift, for the creative and cultural sector. While AI offers artists new and useful opportunities, there is no doubt that they also face significant challenges.

It is crucial to have good framework conditions that safeguard human creativity and intellectual property in a broad sense in the face of machines. The copyright perspective must become a central and inherent part of the government's entire digitalization strategy. Only then can a foundation be laid for sustainable development into the future, not only for the creative and cultural sector, but also other sectors that are based on intellectual property and copyright.

TONO's answers to the government's four questions

The Ministry is requesting input on four main points. We will therefore comment specifically on each of the points.

1. Expectations for the strategy
   TONO expects the new digitization strategy to be established on a foundation where copyright is protected. The copyright perspective must be included as a natural and inherent part of all areas of the digitization strategy to ensure that the government lays the foundation for sustainable digitization into the future.

2. Are there driving forces and trends that will affect society in general, and that the strategy should take into account?
   Artificial intelligence and machine learning are in their infancy, and we probably have little idea of ​​the contours of the technology's impact on individuals and society in five or fifteen years. The digitization strategy must therefore be future-proof by emphasizing the copyright-based, technology-independent principles. The exceptions in Article 3 and especially Article 4 of the Copyright Directive should be treated with caution. It is also crucial that artificial intelligence is defined as a tool for use in the service of humans, not as autonomous systems with inherent intrinsic value.
3. What are the most important opportunities and challenges that digitalization brings in the future?
   Digitization has democratized artistic and creative work in music, photography, visual arts, design, and so on. That is good. However, TONO sees that digitization makes it difficult for the majority of creators to have income from the digital area that is perceived as reasonable. The winners in this economy are the technology developers and platforms, typically American and partly Chinese. This experience from the music and media area has transfer value to other areas and sectors. We will encourage the digitization strategy to facilitate the development of new Norwegian technology, within AI and other areas, but technology companies that want to use existing copyright-protected intellectual property must be subject to requirements such as transparency and compliance with copyright principles. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure that foreign and Norwegian businesses have equal conditions, and that these are complied with. Copyright holders are currently in a weak position when it comes to AI companies, which train their models and systems on copyright-protected music and other creative content, without having had permission to do so from the copyright holders. The digitization strategy should therefore emphasize the necessity of collective licensing of copyrights. Both Norwegian and foreign AI companies and services with operations in Norway, or with Norwegian users, must respect established Norwegian licensing schemes. Considering that society is in an almost all-encompassing digitization process, we also want to include that knowledge and expertise about copyright should be addressed to a greater extent within education and in governing documents.

4. How can the government help solve these challenges through this strategy?
   The copyright perspective must become an inherent and natural part of the digitization strategy, not an add-on. The government must emphasize the necessity of complying with ordinary copyright principles, and that a mandate for collective licensing of copyright is introduced, through organizations such as TONO, BONO, etc. We further urge that the strategy sets the goal that Norway will take a leading role internationally by being a pioneering country that facilitates technology development where copyright, transparency and collective licensing are central.

Proposals for measures and content in the digitalization strategy – summarized

• The digitization strategy must emphasize the importance of continuing the established copyright principles for the use of copyrighted material in AI training and the generation of music, lyrics, literature, photographs, visual arts, and so on.
• Mandatory collective management to ensure fair representation of all affected rights and equal treatment of rights holders, regardless of size.
• The digitalization strategy should promote cooperation between rights holders, technology companies and research institutions, to develop a fair and efficient system. Rights holders must have a seat at the table when rules and guidelines are developed, so that rights holders do not become a losing party.
• Generative AI in a commercial context must not be covered by the exceptions for text and data mining. All use in this context must be governed by copyright.
• Simple and clear reservation options for licensees regarding AI training
• Require transparency from AI companies about which works the technology is trained on, with a presumption principle, which assumes that copyrighted content has been used if a company/service cannot provide evidence to the contrary.
• Works that are generated using AI technology based on existing original works shall be regulated through requirements for explicit permission from the copyright holders of the original work.

 

We look forward to seeing the copyright perspective incorporated as an important and natural part of the government's digitization strategy.

We thank you for the opportunity to provide our input.

 

Sincerely,
Karl Vestli
Adm. Manager
TONO