European Film Forum

3/09: UNIC/CICAE Statement: A bright future for cinema – UNIC

In the wake of the European Commission’s first European Film Forum exploring the future of cinemas, the International Union of Cinemas (UNIC) and the International Confederation of Art Cinemas (CICAE) have issued a statement on the health of the sector and key trends and challenges.

Digital Single Market

31/09: Draft Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market – IPKat

The new leaked draft of the forthcoming Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market suggest a change of the copyright acquis that will introduce new exceptions and limitations, facilitate licences, and set rules aimed at ensuring a well-functioning marketplace for the exploitation of works and other subject-matter.

1/09: Draft Communication on promoting a fair and efficient European copyright-based economy – IPKat

The draft Communication announces that the Commission will work towards ensuring a wider access to online dissemination of European works, and a more competitive and sustainable European audiovisual industry.

9/09: Europe lunges towards a pyrrhic victory in copyright ‘modernisation’ effort – Euractiv

A recently leaked draft of an impact assessment of options for changes to the European Union’s (EU) legal framework for copyright indicates that the Commission is pursuing two main forms of copyright ‘modernisation’ which and could fundamentally change the way we access news and information online, and could actually increase fragmentation, inhibit innovation, and thwart economic growth. The global technology industry–along with the startups, scale-ups, and other entrepreneurs–implore the executive to reconsider the path that it is on with respect to copyright, writes Josh Kallmer, the Senior Vice President for Global Policy at ITI.

Copyright enforcement

8/09: Court of Justice of the European Union Decision in Hyperlinking Case – Court of Justice of the European Union website  

The recent decision of the EU Court of Justice in the Hyperlinking case indicates that the posting of a hyperlink on a website to works protected by copyright and published without the author’s consent on another website does not constitute a ‘communication to the public’ when the person who posts that link does not seek financial gain and acts without knowledge that those works have been published illegally. In contrast, if those hyperlinks are provided for profit, knowledge of the illegality of the publication on the other website must be presumed.

9/09: CJEU Ruling: More Questions than Answers – Netopia

While the decision may seem like a fair balance, the big question is if all the courts around Europe can interpret this in a coherent way. The CJEU must provide something that others can use for guidance, otherwise each and every case would have to go to Luxemburg, writes Per Strömbäck.

European Parliament

8/09: Interview with Silvia Costa, the Chair of the EU Parliament and Education Committee – FNE

Film New Europe discussed with Silvia Costa the new strategic policies for film and culture within the European Union and why culture had a primary role to play in terms of cultural diversity and European cultural identity at this time of crisis in Europe.

Events

21/09: Publication of EU Copyright Reform, including Satellite and Cable regulation