Photo: Privat

Seminar on the Copyright Directive offered foreign experiences and lots of inspiration for Danish implementation

Mar 24, 2020 | Events

24. March 2020

Before the Corona virus gained a full foothold in Denmark, both Danish and foreign stakeholders managed to participate in DI Digital and Rights Alliance’s seminar on the implementation of the Copyright Directive. With due distance and lots of hand sanitizer, the participants gained insight into the work of a number of EU countries on the controversial Article 17.

The Ministry of Culture and a large number of stakeholders and actors in the creative industries gathered on March 11th to exchange experiences and discuss the Copyright Directive and its Danish implementation in “Industriens Hus”.

In particular, Article 17 of the Directive concerning the responsibility for licensing content on online platforms and ensuring effective enforcement was discussed, i.e. by lawyer and expert in international and European copyright, Ted Shapiro. He provided both an overview of the implementation processes of different European countries as well as a deeper insight into the guidelines that the French authorities have set out on the basis of the directive.

Also, the Swedish dr.jur. and senior lecturer at Lund University Johan Axhamn gave a thorough insight into the Swedish perspectives, which Jesper Langsted, legal senior consultant at the Ministry of Culture, could follow up with a talk about at what stage Denmark is in the work of implementation.

We must build on good experiences

The framework for the EU Copyright Directive, in its current form, is very broad. At the seminar, Rights Alliance therefore emphasized how important it is for the Danish authorities in connection with the implementation to draw up a specific framework with specific guidelines and standards, which, among other things, must help ensure that the platforms make effective dismantling tools available to licensees.

In line with the seminar’s exchanges of problems, perspectives and solutions, it also became clear that an important starting point for further work with the Danish implementation is that we must build on the concrete practices and good experiences we already have in Denmark.

“In Denmark, we are at the forefront when it comes to enforcing copyright. Therefore, it is important that in the implementation of the directive, we build on the existing enforcement and the good collaborations we have already established between rights holders, online platforms and Internet service providers, ” Maria Fredenslund, director of Rights Alliance, explained.

With the seminar, Rights Alliance wanted to contribute to the Danish authorities’ work with the implementation of the directive by focusing on how other European countries work with the directive. And it was well received by the Ministry of Culture.

“It is always a good idea to look at how others have solved the same problems or challenges, and find inspiration from there,” said the Ministry of Culture’s Jesper Langsted.

Hear Jesper Langsted, Maria Fredenslund and Ted Shapiro elaborate on what they expect from the further implementation process in Denmark, and what else is important to keep in mind in this context, in the video below.