Rightsholders split on article 13

17 January 2019

Rightsholder representatives continue to be split on the question of article 13, following two letters issued this week.

Firstly, a letter signed by representatives of organisations, including the MPA (the international branch of the MPAA) and Premier League, calls on EU legislators to suspend negotiations over the “highly controversial” article 13 (via Politico). This follows an earlier letter where the organisations called for a “carve-out” exception from the article in respect of audio-visual and sports sectors.

Later, a letter signed by representatives in the music, film and publishing industries (including IMPALA and IFPI) urged legislators to “substantially” amend article 13 so as to resemble the original proposed texts (i.e. by removing any later agreed exceptions to the rule for e.g. UGC). This broadly follows an earlier statement published on Music Business Worldwide, calling for “mitigation measures” to be dropped, claiming:

“[A]ny proposal whereby services can effectively choose the level of diligence which will shield them against liability would perpetuate the Value Gap/ Transfer of Value and wholly undermine this crucial draft legislation.”