July 5, 2018 · Press releases | Information democracy | Freedom of expression online

Press Release: EU Parliamentarians support an open, democratic debate on Copyright Directive

EU Parliamentarians decided today, 5 July 2018, that the initial text proposed as the Copyright Directive Reform needs to be re-opened for edits. This will allow the 751 MEPs to propose amendments in September and call for the deletion of the notorious Article 13.

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April 7, 2016 · Blogs

EDRi joins open letter asking for an ambitious copyright reform

In light of the planned copyright reform by the European Commission, EDRi today (7 April, 2016) sent an open letter addressed to President Juncker, First  Vice-President Timmermans, Vice-President Ansip and other commissioners. In the letter, we demand an ambitious copyright reform that “that upholds and strengthens fundamental principles such as the limitation of intermediaries’ liability […]

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December 14, 2022 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Data protection standards | Privacy and confidentiality | Profiling practices

Back to the Future: Activism, the copyright Directive and lessons for the present

The Copyright Directive marked a key moment in internet history. Civil society, and EDRi in particular, have reflected on the role we played in the political debate and what would that mean for future digital policy fights. In this blogpost, we look back to assess the success of the strategies we adopted and what are the takeaways we should keep in mind when challenging current human rights threats like chat control and facial recognition.

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August 2, 2006

The French copyright law changed by the Constitutional Council

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The French Constitutional Council ruled on the most controversial copyright and related rights law, known as DADVSI law, concluding that some provisions of the law “violated the constitutional protections of property”. The Council has considered as unconstitutional several provisions adopted by the French Parliament that were meant […]

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September 13, 2006

Russian copyright law gets tougher

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) New changes in the Russian copyright law entered into force on 1 September 2006, giving the same legal regime to the electronic documents as to the traditional ones. The new provisions were adopted by the Russian Duma in 2004, but their application was delayed in order to […]

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March 28, 2007

General ideas behind a computer game are not copyrighted

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The UK Court of Appeal has ruled that general ideas in a computer game can be copied, in the appeal Nova Productions, producer of Pocket Money computer game, made against two rival companies, Mazooma Games and Bell Fruit Games. Nova Productions had lost its case in first […]

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April 23, 2003

Germany expands academic use of copyrighted material

On 11 April German parliament agreed on the implementation-proposal of the EU Copyright Directive (EUCD). Only the small liberal opposition party opposed. Public debate centered around new educational and scientific limitations on copyright. The new law allows teachers to make works available to a limited group of class members, e.g. in an intranet, for the […]

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May 7, 2003

New EU legislation on copyright infringements

The European Commission has launched a proposal for a new Directive that aims at no less than harmonising penalties for infringements against copyright laws. The proposal, adopted by the Commission at the end of January, is currently under discussion in the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament. A first draft of a ‘Working Document’ […]

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March 27, 2013 · Blogs

Spain: New draft law to increase copyright infringements penalties

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Urheberrecht in Spanien: Neuer Vorstoß für höhere Strafen | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_11.6_Urheberrecht_in_Spanien_Neuer_Vorstoss_fuer_hoehereStrafen?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20130327] The Spanish Council of Ministers approved on 22 March 2013 the draft reform of the Intellectual Property Law, also known as Lassalle law, which is meant to punish more harshly some breaches of intellectual property rights. According to […]

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June 20, 2018 · Blogs | Information democracy | Freedom of expression online | Platform regulation

We can still win: Next steps for the Copyright Directive

On the 20th of June 2018, the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) ignored all advice and voted for the chaotic Article 13 of the proposed Copyright Directive. There are several steps for the EU institutions to go through before the Directive can finally be adopted. We can still win!

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June 24, 2020 · Blogs | Information democracy | Digital rights in trade agreements | Freedom of expression online

European Commission derails copyright reform in South Africa

Last year, the South African parliament adopted a progressive new copyright bill that would have drastically improved access to educational materials, introduced a fair use exception, implemented the Marrakesh treaty for the benefit of people who are blind or print disabled, and strengthened the negotiating positions of authors and performers in their negotiations with publishers.

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October 22, 2014 · Blogs

Google pushes forward with its voluntary pro-copyright policing

For the past number of years, Google has chosen to impose US copyright law on the world, completely de-indexing any website which fulfils the non-judicial criteria of a valid order under American law. Last year alone, it removed 222 000 000 links, which means 74 links per second. In addition to applying US copyright law […]

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