How Will the Practical Implementation of Article 17 Work? - Audible Magic

As EU Member States Move to the Transposition of Article 17, EU Commission Holds the First of Several Stakeholder Dialogues

The October 15th Meeting

The Commission has set up a series of required stakeholder dialogues to explore best practices for cooperation between the online content sharing service providers (OCSSPs) and the rightsholders.

Guidance for Implementation

The input provided by attendees will help the Commission create a document to be published later next year that will provide guidance to member states regarding the implementation of Article 17.

The first stakeholder meeting on October 15 was focused on the OCSSPs, and the music rightsholders, as well as consumer rights organizations. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Vimeo and Soundcloud provided the OCSSP perspective. Representatives for record labels, Copyright Management Organizations and music publishers included IFPI, GEMA, ICMP to name a few.

Generally, the rightsholders addressed the following:

• Transparency and regularity of reporting of usage.
• Wider access for all right holders to rights management tools like YouTube’s Content ID.
• Consistent support of take down/stay down from the platforms.
• Several rightsholders stated that the platforms should use Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) software, which they described as affordable and highly accurate.
• Songwriter representatives called for the deployment of technology that recognized compositions in addition to sound recordings

The OCSSPs covered a variety of areas including:

• The policies and procedures that they have in place regarding the usage of copyrighted works, often referring to DMCA.
• Although many of the OCSSPs have licensing agreements with major rightsholders, several wanted more guidance regarding what entails best efforts to obtain licensing deals required by Article 17.
• Several platforms spoke about their usage of Automatic Content Recognition technology.
• Representatives of the startup community voiced their concerns about the practical implementation of the provisions for startups:
• The lack of expertise and funds needed to negotiate licensing deals with large rightsholders.

Consumer organizations warned that over-blocking could suppress free speech and highlighted the potential issues of false positives and blocking of uploads subject to copyright exceptions. They stressed the need for OCSSPs to implement transparent and speedy appeal processes for users, and to encourage their use.

Both sides reiterated that the cooperation regarding the usage of copyrighted material would benefit the platforms, artists, and users. In addition, each party wanted to encourage licensing and minimize over-blocking.

Webcast of the October 15th meeting: https://webcast.ec.europa.eu/copyright-stakeholder-dialogues.

Plan Now 

It is important to start planning now on how to meet the requirements and understand the impact of the Directive on your business. 

Below are some resources to help you understand the Directive and how it may impact your business. 

• Take our A17 Assessment Survey for platforms to assess if the Directive affects your company and then assess your readiness to comply 
• Learn more about the impact of the EU Copyright Directive on live streaming platforms 
• Understand how small social networks will be impacted 
• Read the full text of the Directive 
• And more is available on our Article 17 page as well as in our blog section