Germany’s Proposal to Protect Publishers

Publishers around the globe are suffering from consistent reductions in ad sales and revenue driven by decreased circulation. The most common target of the publishers’ anger and frustration have been online aggregators. In the U.S., aggregators have been party to a series of lawsuits, most of which have ended in undisclosed settlements. The U.S. government has yet to take action to clarify how the copyright laws relate to the aggregation of content online.

A different story is unfolding in Germany where the government is proactively taking steps to create a new type of copyright designed to protect publishers against online news sites. According to the The New York Times, the German government’s proposal would give publishers a “neighboring right,” similar to what music labels and movie houses already enjoy. Details of the proposal have not been fully hashed out, but one suggestion is to require a license for any commercial use of published material online. A new royalty collection agency would be created to gather and distribute the fees. Private, noncommercial uses would remain unrestricted.

Opponents to the plan say extension of the copyright laws runs counter to the “spirit of openness” that characterizes the web. They also argue that distinguishing between commercial and private noncommercial use would be extremely difficult. Fair use is an additional concern, though fair use protection in Germany is nowhere near as strong as it is in the U.S. It will be interesting to see whether the German proposal is adopted, and if it will have any influence on the extension of U.S. copyright laws in this area.

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