A public statement of the joint position of the Portuguese creative industry on the Copyright Directive in the Digital Single Market took place today at Casa da Imprensa, in Lisbon.
The signatory entities were represented, as well as some of the most reputable Portuguese authors and artists, who have been in solidarity with this cause from the very beginning and who have joined their voices to hundreds of thousands of creators from all over Europe and the world.
On 12 September, the European Parliament (EP) will have the "historic opportunity to put an end to an unacceptable situation that determines a total reversal of the value chain between culture creators and platforms", stress the signatories of the appeal sent to Portuguese deputies in the EP.
"Contrary to what many would have us believe, it is not the survival of the internet that is at stake, but rather the survival of the cultural and creative sectors, as we know them today, as well as the future of European culture and values", they add. .
"The diagnosis made of the current situation, in which we are witnessing an unprecedented transfer of value (ToV) between crop producers and those who use it abusively to add profits, does not allow for any other solution than to guarantee safeguard conditions copyright', they stress.
The text of the proposed Directive, which will be submitted to a vote in the plenary of the European Parliament on September 12, is the result of discussions in the Council of the European Union, which highlights the active and positive contribution of the Portuguese government and the work of the JURI Committee of the European Parliament.
Paying creators for their work is, without a doubt, the only issue that MEPs will have to decide on in the next plenary.
“This is a key moment for Europe. The European Union will have in its hands to ensure the importance that culture has in the Digital Single Market. It is on behalf of hundreds of thousands of authors, music and audiovisual producers, Portuguese and foreign, and hundreds of journalistic companies and national and regional media, that the signatory entities appeal to Portuguese MEPs. We want the EU to continue to be synonymous with a democratic space that values freedom of expression and information as well as cultural and creative values”, underline the signatories.
The signatory entities have as a pillar of their action precisely the defense of freedom of expression. It is not such a limit that the proposed directive promotes. Citizens will continue to be able to share content and works as they have been doing until now. The only intention is for the platforms to obtain licensing for the legal availability and use of these same contents and works.Myth 2. "This legal change will have costs for users"
Users will not have any additional costs with the entry into force of this directive. The responsibility will be solely and exclusively of the organizations that own the platforms on which these contents will be used. A clear example of this is the free use platforms for users, which today, on their own initiative, have implemented mechanisms for monitoring the legal licensing of the contents and works they make available.Myth 3. "Right holders benefit from the free promotion of their works made by the platforms"
Although more and more people access works in the digital world, this does not automatically translate into fair remuneration for those who created them. However, for platforms that make the protected works available without authorization, this availability always has commercial effects that allow them, without the effort and innovation of creation, to withdraw profits that are not due to them.
Joint Appeal to Portuguese Deputies in the European Parliament
Never, like today, have we witnessed such widespread and massive access to cultural goods and information. The majority of women and men around the world are now able to access works, artistic performances and informational content, on a scale that was unimaginable until recently.
Never had so much music, so much information, so many films, so many texts, so many images been “consumed”, so many works. So much protected “content”, the result of the work of someone who creates it.
And I'm glad it is.
The essential problem that this reality poses to us is that the growth of access to cultural goods has been, in recent decades, accompanied by a generalized and global “impoverishment” of all those who create, interpret and invest in cultural goods, as well as a decrease in the income of the media and information, to levels that are, even today, below the level of sustainability of these sectors.
Along with the decrease in the income of those who effectively create and produce cultural goods – essential for social, cultural and political progress – we have been witnessing an exponential and completely disproportionate enrichment of the large global platforms that, under the cover of the euphemisms of “sharing ” and “access”, they build their immeasurable earnings at the expense of the creators, abusively making available works and services
aliens.
This is an unprecedented phenomenon of Value Transfer (ToV) between creators and producers of culture and those others who take advantage of it to boost their businesses.
Now, it is evident that no economic activity can survive, develop and flourish without remunerating those who produce.
Culture and information are no exception and the importance of these sectors for the development of a society of culture and knowledge – if not for the development of democracy itself – cannot serve as a pretext for a kind of “forced expropriation” of creators, on the contrary, it should be the guiding foundation of public policies that impose – at the very least – fair and real market conditions for cultural products, if not the incentive and support for their production.
The response of Europe, which in recent years has adopted clear policies for growth and the production of digital value, can only be one: the protection of cultural and creative values that were at the genesis of the process of European construction and which must also shape a digital single market , truly fair and equitable. We are facing an unrepeatable historic moment, in which Europe will have the opportunity to be an example and a farol to the rest of the world.
Despite all the disinformation campaign – carried out by organizations whose purpose is to continue enriching under the false pretext of free “promotion” of content – what is at stake in the vote on the Copyright Directive in the Digital Single Market , scheduled for the next 12th of September, is the possibility of finally having a fair model of remuneration for creators in a digital environment that reverses this unsustainable state of affairs. It's late, but it might not be too late yet.
What is at stake is also the creation of conditions so that platforms that use user-uploaded content – but play an active role in making such content available – are subject to effective licensing obligations.
What truly worries the great economic powerhouses of digital distribution, opponents of the proposed Directive, is that they will be obliged to remunerate right holders with it.
This will put an end to an unsustainable legal uncertainty that has legitimized the misappropriation of the value generated by creation.
It is this legal uncertainty that has allowed these platforms to divert the value of creation, channeling it to their own commercial interests, instead of what happens with licensed platforms that remunerate creators fairly.
It is also intended to implement a related right for press publishers, a right already established for the music, film and other industries, in a digital environment, contributing to greater equity between entities in the cultural sector.
It encourages organizations that want to gain added value by reusing or monetizing press content to license their creators, allowing the sharing of hyperlinks and giving journalists the opportunity to be remunerated for licensing online uses.
Despite these being the fundamental aspects of the directive, the campaign of its opponents has been deliberately decentralizing the discussion from the essential, seeking to stir up public opinion with false ghosts of censorship.
They claim that the approval of the Directive will prevent users from sharing the content they see fit on those platforms, thus constituting a limitation on freedom of expression.
There is nothing more false!
We recall that the signatory organizations represent relevant sectors of cultural production and the media whose essential prerequisite for their existence is freedom of expression.
Authors, artists, producers and the media have been, are and will always be on the first line of defense of freedom of expression, in all its forms.
Portugal is, in fact, a State in whose fundamental law the legal protection of copyright is established precisely as an instrument and guarantee of the freedom of “intellectual, artistic and scientific creation”.
Allowing creators and producers of cultural goods to be fairly remunerated for their services is, therefore, to defend the freedom of artistic expression. Likewise, creating conditions for a fair market for informative content is an essential prerequisite for the existence and maintenance of a free and plural press, a pillar of democracy itself.
But it is also worth remembering, specifically, the following: the text that resulted from the work of the JURI Committee of the European Parliament does not impose any filter. The application of electronic mechanisms that prevent the provision of protected and unauthorized content will always be an option for platforms that do not previously obtain licensing, as is their responsibility.
And even in this circumstance, it is clear that there will be no prior generalized “censorship” or “filter”. What will happen is that the works previously identified by the rights holders and for which the platform has not obtained authorization cannot be made available. It is thus guaranteed that protected works whose availability has not been authorized by their legitimate creators – and only these – cannot be made available by third parties who, not being the owners, only use and make them available.
Everything else will remain available, and no legal provision will prevent anyone from making it available in the way and by the means they understand the "contents" created by themselves, thus fully exercising their freedom of expression, which obviously does not include the freedom to use the expression alien.
It is therefore false that there is any “censorship filter”.
The European Data Protection Supervisor has already concluded that the text of the Directive, as approved by the JURI Committee, does not violate any data protection standard and does not impose a general monitoring duty.
Quite the opposite.
The Directive regulates automatic monitoring mechanisms that already exist today, implemented at the initiative of the platforms and, let us say, without generating any generalized social alarm. In this regard, the proposal for a directive safeguards, namely, the existence of review and complaint mechanisms, the legal obligation of such mechanisms to allow free use and the consecration of the possibility of resorting to judicial or arbitration bodies to settle any disputes. The reading of Article 13 of the proposal for a directive, as is clear from the JURI Committee report, does not allow for any other conclusion.
It is also important to clarify that, with the approval of the Directive, citizens will continue to do exactly as they have been doing until now and no payment will be asked of them. It is up to the platforms to ensure fair remuneration conditions so that protected content can be shared. Users, not only will not be required to pay the licensing costs, but they will also see legitimized, on the licensed platforms, the acts of availability that they already practice today. This plan also includes the fundamental rights of citizens.
This is effectively the meaning of the content of the text that, for the first time, will be put to a vote, in the plenary scheduled for the next 12th of September.
It was in the name of these principles and a cause common to all creators that hundreds of Portuguese authors and artists mobilized with the Government of Portugal and the Portuguese Deputies in the European Parliament.
This mobilization, as part of a movement on a European scale, has already begun to bear fruit and the signatory entities emphasize the important role assumed by the Portuguese Government when discussing the proposal for a Directive within the scope of the Council of the European Union. Portugal's active contribution has already allowed that body to adopt a text for the proposed directive that safeguards and defends the rights of creators and European and world culture, in the context of the digital exploitation of content.
Members of the European Parliament,
On the 12th, the European Parliament will have the historic opportunity to put an end to an unacceptable situation that determines a complete reversal of the value chain between culture creators and platforms.
Contrary to what many would have us believe, it is not the survival of the internet that is at stake, but rather the survival of cultural and creative sectors, as we know them today, as well as the future of European culture and values.
It is on behalf of hundreds of thousands of authors, music and audiovisual producers, Portuguese and foreign, and hundreds of journalistic companies and national and regional media, that we leave here our appeal to vote in favor of the Directive, in anticipation that Europe can continue to be synonymous with democracy, ethics and justice.
SPA – Portuguese Society of Authors
GEDIPE – Association for Collective Management of Copyright and Film and Audiovisual Producers
FEVIP – Portuguese Association for the Defense of Audiovisual Works
AFP – Portuguese Phonographic Association
AMAEI – Association of Musicians, Artists and Independent Publishers
AUDIOGEST – Association for the Management and Distribution of Rights
API - Portuguese Press Association
VISAPRESS – Media Content Management, CRL.
PMP - Private Media Platform
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