Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1000343
19 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 JULY 2018 In defence of the EU's Copyright Directive WITH regards to the debate on the Copyright Directive approved last week by the EU's JURI committee, I understand certain concerns that YouTube users might have. However, I think that there is ab- solutely nothing in the law which states that internet uses will be forced to pay a fee every time they share a meme or share (website) links. What this law does is clarify that some websites (only those user-up- loaded content sites like YouTube) which distribute copyright-protected works such as music to the public can no longer claim an exemption from copyright to avoid taking a fair licence, i.e. they must come to be on the same level as fully licensed services and stop earning gargantuan profits from creators' works and not accepting full liability to share the due return. The directive restores fairness to the music market and ensures Goog- le can no longer avoid a fair licence for works uploaded on YouTube. Essentially, it brings YouTube to the same level playing field as everyone else. It doesn't go on to say anything about the nature of the content it- self. This legislation isn't contradictory with ensuring artists get paid for their work – quite the opposite; they can continue to do what they do, but art- ists who have copyrighted works will now benefit more from their works being up there. This is precisely what is meant by closing the Value Gap. It does not oblige the use of any technology. It obliges these services to take "appropriate and proportion- ate" measures, only in terms of copy- right protected works such as record- ed music. And even then, taking into account the size of the service (i.e. less burden on small ones). Websites' obligations will be sub- ject to working together with right holders to identify the works they do not want to be made available. But the music industry is an enabling in- dustry, we want our content up there – just under fairer licensing terms and return for artists and labels than it is today, unless artists don't want it up of course. On the contrary, the Copyright Di- rective expressly obliges a complaint and redress mechanism for users, something many against this law fail to mention. Article 13 explicitly states that there will be no restriction of users' rights of freedom of expression. Also, it expressly states it will not affect the entire framework for copy- right exceptions in Europe. There will be precisely zero restriction on paro- dy, pastiche, quotation from what is available today. None. On a final note, the entire music community is behind this. Letters from many MEPs, more than 2,000 recording artists, 23 different creative sectors and a petition by 20,000 crea- tors show the spectrum of support for a fair solution to the Value Gap. Europe's film, books, newspa- pers, magazine, TV, photographers, authors, cinema industry, music publishers, footballers, composers, songwriters and many more are all in support of the Value Gap solution. The crucial issue here is that with- out this law, the music recording industry faces extinction. Indeed, I laud and thank Francis Zammit Dimech for his crucial vote that will ensure that our youngsters will have recording opportunities in the future. Joseph Calleja Tenor Attention Europe! SUMMITS against summits.... you are all wasting your time! Moreover, you are sending messages that Europe can hold all Africans through burden shar- ing. The problem will keep haunting Europe, again and again... Please note that there are one-off crisis and never-ending crises. Any war is supposed to end someday, but Africa is a huge continent containing 54 coun- tries. Therefore, at any given time you are always going to have wars. Even if all Europe had to take equal and fair sharing of immigrants, it has its limits. Africa is three times larger than Europe. Okay, some argue that Europe should pay for its past wrongdoings but we cannot remain history conscious with the idea that there is infinite room for everyone coming from never-ending African crises, if they are true crises in the first place (I never see any of them with war-torn signs such as amputa- tions, gun-shot wounds, severe burns, etc). Anyway, burden sharing is not a long-term solution. This is not rocket science. Charles Micallef Qawra Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications