A balancing of viewpoints and interests in the European copyright debate has been a commonly shared goal since the 2013 “Licenses for Europe” stakeholder dialogue. A key outcome of last year’s EU consultation on copyright has been that the current copyright law is unbalanced – while rights holders and producers are satisfied with the status quo, institutions and end users are not (see are previous post on the matter, “Rightsholders are from Mars, Users are from Venus”).
A reform ensuring a more balanced copyright system will only be achieved, if we conduct a public debate that fairly presents all of the varied and sometimes conflicting viewpoints. The Working Group on IPR and Copyright Reform, led by Jean-Marie Cavada in the JURI Committee, is a key forum for this debate. The group regularly organizes meeting with stakeholders, and it’s invitation track record is far from balanced or neutral. In the last meeting on “Exchange of views on publishing and copyright issues on the digital environment”, the Working Group invited representatives of five rights holders, one library representative and no representatives from end users or intermediaries.
In reaction, a group of 24 organisations (including our association) have signed an open letter to Mr. Cavada, titled “Ensuring Balance” and expressing concern with regard to the lack of diversity of expert speakers and the corresponding representation of views:
“Making copyright rules future-proof requires a holistic approach. This can only be achieved if the full spectrum of stakeholders is adequately represented and given a chance to speak in front of Members of Parliament who will ultimately be tasked with passing new copyright legislation.”
The signatories call on the Working Group to make all views appropriately represented in upcoming meetings.
