Today the European Parliament with a broad majority adopted my copyright evaluation report. The plenary decisively removed the controversial proposal to restrict the so-called Freedom of Panorama, the right to use pictures of public buildings and sculptures without restriction, which had previously been inserted by the Legal Affairs Committee.
The parliament has listened to the more than half a million people who have joined me in criticising this proposal. As a result, most Europeans will continue to be able to post selfies online and view photos of famous buildings on Wikipedia unencumbered by copyright. We must now continue to fight for an extension of important copyright exceptions such as this one to all member states.
Nevertheless, this decision embodies a central message of the report: Commissioner Oettinger cannot limit his upcoming reform proposals to improving conditions for cross-border trade. Reforming exceptions to copyright protection must be at the center of his initiative, since they fulfil such an essential, multi-facetted role: They provide creatives with the space to create new works, users with legal certainty for everyday activities, and access to culture and knowledge to everyone.
For the first time, the Parliament demands mandatory minimum standards for user rights in copyright, which may not be restricted by technical copy protection measures or contractual terms.Tweet this!
It calls for a reduction of geoblocking measures, particularly to allow cultural minorities to access content in their language online. The report asks for consideration of new exceptions for libraries and scientists when dealing with digital works, for example allowing e-lending. Creators should be strengthend in their negotiations with publishers, it states.
I welcome these instructions to Commissioner Oettinger. At the same time, the fact that the attack on freedom of panorama for a time enjoyed the support of a majority demonstrates that many MEPs have yet to fully understand the cultural shift caused by the Internet and its consequences for copyright. Much work remains until we have a European copyright framework fit for the digital age.
Parliament today also rejected a renewed attempt from German conservative MEPs to pave the way for an ancillary copyright for press publishers. This should be the final blow to the idea of introducing at the European level a law to cross-finance news publishers which has already failed spectacularly in Germany and Spain.
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Terrific news. Thank you! Glad our voices were heard!
Herzlichen Glueckwunsch und vielen Dank fuer Ihren Einsatz! Sowohl die Panorama Neuregelung als auch der Ammendment Antrag waren ja wohl Schnapsideen.
bravo! This is good news.
This is great news. Well done. We’d almost (only almost) get the feeling that Europe is a democracy….
well done Julia. Keep up the good work!
Fantastische Arbeit, Julia! Ein Sieg für uns alle. Dranbleiben!
Great work, Julia! A victory for us all. Keep going!
Thank you for all the work you have done on our behalf so far.
Vielen Dank für die gute Arbeit!
This is fantastic news! We appreciate all you are doing.
Great news. Thank you Julia for all your fabulous efforts and to Nico Trinkhaus for his hugely successful petition. Now let’s get Freedom of Panorama extended throughout the EU!
<3
Thanks, good result…. I can keep working!
Well done Julia, glad to see there are still people who care about the little folk. Thankyou
Well done Julia!
That proposal alone, along with SOPA and ACTA, almost gave me a heart attack: I hope that there will be no more insane attempts at restrictions like that.
Not only lots of credit to Reda, but also to RIBA of the UK for knowing that they benefit by respecting for FoP.
Excellent work ma’am. Much appreciated by those who know about it, and everyone should know about it.
Thank you so much for your work!
I hope FOP will soon be extended to the rest of the EU
I shared campaign Chang.org in LinkedIn. If you one day, a page is opened on this network please stay in touch.
Congratulations also to Nico Trinkhaus to create the campaign.
Well done Julia Reda!! Keep up the good work! Bravo!!
Wunderbar! Herzlichen Dank – und bitte bleiben Sie weiter am Ball, insbesondere auch im Hinblick auf die digitalen Analysemethoden wie Text- und Dataming, die für die Wissenschaft unerlässlich sind (sonst verschwinden wir im Hinterhof des digital turn).
Well done Julia Reda!! Keep up the good work! Bravo!!
Excellent job, congratulations and thank you!