CTA Blasts EC's Possible Pan-EU Ancillary Copyright Proposal

The European Commission's likely proposal to introduce a pan-EU 20-year ancillary copyright aimed at allowing publishers to claim royalties from news aggregation services that link to their content is part of a pattern of recent EU policy decisions that “create a blockade on information for Europeans that rivals the blockades on information imposed by Communist countries,” said CTA President Gary Shapiro in a Friday blog post. The possible EU ancillary copyright was outlined in leaked EC documents on the commission's larger EU copyright law revamp proposal, which is expected to be introduced this month (see 1608290062). The EC may roll out its copyright revamp proposal as soon as this week, an industry lobbyist told us. The ancillary copyright proposal, along with the EU's demand for $14.5 billion in retroactive taxes from Apple and the EU's “right to be forgotten” law, “increasingly restrict access to information,” Shapiro said. “They are also dangerous moves for a government to make as they parallel controls and access to information imposed by totalitarian societies.” The recent dearth of new tech startups in the EU is already “a source of embarrassment and concern,” but the ancillary copyright “will hasten the exodus of promising European tech companies to Silicon Valley and other locales more open to the access to information the internet encourages,” Shapiro said. He urged companies to consider a “blackout day” of European websites similar to the one used in 2012 to protest the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act and Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act. “Hopefully, it won't come down to engaging angry European citizens,” Shapiro said. “Cooler heads should withdraw or modify these wrongheaded policies.”