News

We’d like to thank everyone who has visited our site in 2012 – it’s been quite a year for author societies.eu since our site was launched in April!

Here are some of our highlights:

Marielle Gallo is Member of the European Parliament for the European People’s Party and Rapporteur for the Collective Rights Management Directive. She shares her views on the development of the new legislation.

You can read the whole interview in French below

A seasoned Spanish politician and author, Antonio Masip Hidalgo is also a member of the Committee on Legal Affairs in the European Parliament that’s been charged with handling the proposed Collective Rights Management Directive.

In this frank interview given to Instituto de Derecho de Autor, the Spanish think tank on IP rights created by SGAE, Antonio strongly defends the need to protect European culture and authors by guaranteeing that they are fairly remunerated for their work. He stresses the role that culture and authors have to play in European recovery:  in the future, Europe’s cultural assets will become more than ever elements of its distinctive strength.

Antonio also recognises the long experience of the Rapporteur Marielle Gallo in defense of authors and creation.

Link to full interview (in Spanish) on http://www.institutoautor.org/blog/Entrevista-a-Antonio-Masip-Hidalgo_3437

Earlier this year, we were delighted to hear Michel Barnier – European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services – describe copyright as ‘the engine behind the diversity, the creativity and the innovation which can be delivered to us all through the internet’.

In these few words, Mr Barnier encapsulates the importance of copyright. As consumers, we’ve seen great strides taking place over the last few decades thanks to the internet – from devices like tablets to services such as YouTube. In amidst all this – overwhelmingly positive – change, copyright has been the constant: it’s the crucial element that ensures the benefits we enjoy do not adversely affect the livelihoods of the creators we love.

We’ve written before about the importance of improving the implementation of authors’ rights and neighbouring rights. We know there are gaps to be filled, and we welcome efforts to improve the governance of author societies with open arms.

Where we can’t be flexible is on reform to the phasing out creators’ rights. In fact, we argue that copyright has never been as crucial as it is today.