It's a victory in Europe in favour of authors' rights that tells us a lot about current concerns over the likes of Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft exploiting journalistic content and the importance of remunerating authors fairly and without condition.
The European Parliament's vote on 12 September in favour of a Directive on copyright in the digital single market is the result of a wide and decisive mobilisation of our affiliates and associations of authors.
The endorsement by the European Parliament of a so-called "neighbouring right" for publishers over their online publications that is now coupled with a sharing of revenues with journalists is a great step forward. The acknowledgement of the need for a fair and proportionate remuneration for all authors coupled with a transparency obligation on the way the works are being exploited is another great achievement.
The adoption of the final text will take some time, as it is now subject to the trilogue negotiations between the 3 EU institutions. However, we can already thank our European affiliates for their extraordinary mobilisation which helped us take a decisive step in protecting and enhancing the rights and earnings of journalists!
Anthony Bellanger
For more information, please contact IFJ on + 32 2 235 22 16
The IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 146 countries