A hundred companies, entrepreneurs and artists in the music sector have requested, in an open letter, the approval “in the very short term” of the legislation that transposes the European copyright directive.
The open letter, addressed to the Minister of Culture, Pedro Adão e Silva, brings together Portuguese publishers, such as Valentim de Carvalho, Turbina and Flor Caveira, Portuguese subsidiaries of multinationals, such as Sony Music Portugal, and artists, such as David Fonseca, Gson (Wet Bed Gang), Dino D’Santiago, Pedro Abrunhosa, Clã, André Sardet and Quim Barreiros, among others.
The subscribers of the text, sent to the Lusa agency, warn of “the urgent need to create, also in Portugal – as imposed by the Directive – minimum market conditions, through the submission of content platforms uploaded by users (of which YouTube is the most relevant ) to true license obligations”.
In May 2019, the European law on copyright and related rights in the digital single market came into force, which establishes an adaptation period of two years, until June of last year, for the countries of the European Union to transpose the new norms to national legislation, and the laws, regulations and administrative provisions must be adopted before that date.
Companies, entrepreneurs and artists, recalling that “they have always relied solely” on their own “economic, human and technical investment to maintain publishing activity, in the context of an increasingly competitive and demanding digital market”, they ask that “this long-awaited legislation could become a reality, also in Portugal, in the very short term”.
On May 19, the European Commission sent two reasoned opinions to Portugal, and to 12 other countries, the initial phase of an infringement procedure, for not having yet notified Brussels about the transposition of European directives on copyright and related rights.
This means that these Member States have two months (from May 19) to “correct the situation and adopt national measures to transpose both directives”, and if they do not do so, the Commission will be able to take action before the Court of Justice of the European Union. Justice.
“Mr. Minister, what we ask of you is, after all, that you contribute to the creation of true market conditions, transposing, within the deadline imposed by the European Commission, the Directive in question,” reads the open letter.
The insurers consider that “it is not at all impossible” to transpose the directive within the established deadlines, taking into account that “the previous government had already presented a transposition proposal to the Assembly of the Republic, a proposal that has already expired due to the dissolution of the Parliament, but that deserved the support of the majority of the representative organizations of the sector”.
“It is therefore within Portugal’s reach to put an end to the market dysfunction that gave rise to the Directive – the so-called ‘value gap’ – and avoid absolutely unnecessary ‘fines’ for non-compliance, both costly and discrediting, on all for a country that has made an exemplary contribution to the entire European legislative process”, they affirm.
In September 2021, the Council of Ministers approved two bills that empowered the Government to legislate on copyright and related rights, in order to transpose European directives on this matter. In October, the Portuguese parliament approved the transition to the specialty.
At stake is the need to regulate the use of works protected by copyright in a digital environment, that is, on Internet platforms, especially technology giants such as Facebook, Google and YouTube, which will now have responsibilities to ensure that copyrights are respected. From author.
Source: Observadora
