The unlimited scope of Article 12 of the proposed DSM Directive

28.8.2018

Question for written answer E-004361-18
to the Commission
Rule 130
Jiří Maštálka (GUE/NGL)

It has been widely claimed that Article 12 of the proposal for a directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (COM(2016)0593) is needed as a tool to fix the alleged legal uncertainty created in certain Member States by the HP/Reprobel ruling (C-572/13), in which the publisher’s right to a share of the compensation paid for uses under exceptions was disputed.

The HP/Reprobel case was only about compensation paid for private copying and reprographic rights. However, the proposed Article 12 would give publishers an unlimited share of all compensation paid for uses under exceptions and limitations now existing and any created in the future. This goes much further than the scope of the compensation in question in the HP/Reprobel case.

An unlimited right to a share of compensation would unjustly transfer money from authors to publishers, give publishers an even stronger negotiating position and cause legal uncertainty, e.g. regarding existing publishing contracts and recipients of compensation.

Why are there no limitations to the scope of Article 12 in the Commission’s proposal? What is the justification for an unlimited right to a share of all compensation paid for uses of works under all exceptions and limitations to copyright?