An EU Related Right for Press Publishers Concerning Digital Uses. A Legal Analysis
Research Paper of the Faculty of Law, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main No. 22/2016
126 Pages Posted: 21 Dec 2016
Date Written: December 20, 2016
Abstract
On 14 September 2016, the European Commission proposed a Directive on “copyright in the Digital Single Market”. This proposal includes an Article 11 on the “protection of press publications concerning digital uses”, according to which “Member States shall provide publishers of press publications with the rights provided for in Article 2 and Article 3(2) of Directive 2001/29/EC for the digital use of their press publications.” Relying on the experiences and debates surrounding the German and Spanish laws in this area, this study presents a legal analysis of the proposal for an EU related right for press publishers (RRPP). After a brief overview over the general limits of the EU competence to introduce such a new related right, the study critically examines the purpose of an RRPP. On this basis, the next section distinguishes three versions of an RRPP with regard to its subject-matter and scope, and considers the practical and legal implications of these alternatives, in particular having regard to fundamental rights.
Keywords: Copyright, News Publication, Press Publication, Publisher, Related Right, Neighbouring Right, Fundamental Rights, Media Pluralism
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