Europe’s new copyright rules will have far-reaching implications which will affect how music and video publications may be distributed online. They will allow people in Europe to view movies and videos bought online anywhere in the 28-member block of Europe. At the moment, access is limited to the country in which the content is purchased.
However, this review of the copyright rules may put restrictions on how tech companies use articles in services such as Google (O:GOOGL) News. This is part of Europe’s goal to create a digital single market -–a unified market of over 500 million customers.
As of yet, the new rules need approval from the European Parliament and the 28 member states. Several of the details are still up in the air.
How American Google and Yahoo, for instance, obtain access to online information provided by the region’s media comes into question. And U.S. tech companies hope their activities are not being targeted unfairly in order to give the edge to its European competitors.
In some countries of Europe, politicians are passing laws to make sure tech companies pay for digital material. In response to this, Google either shut down its local news aggregation service or excluded local publishers in its search results. The power of Google.
At the beginning of next year, lawmakers in Europe plan to release proposals that will force tech giants and start-ups to pay media companies for the right to use articles in their aggregation services. By the same token, individuals will not be expected to be charged to use links for their personal use.
Most Europeans welcome the idea of having greater control over their digital content purchases. Individuals may be allowed to buy digital content direct from another European country, a big difference in the present rules.
Of course, content makers, film producers and digital-rights holders are not as happy about the changes. They are concerned that by permitting individuals access to content from anywhere in the region, their ability to make money could be impeded and that, eventually consumers’ choices would be reduced.
In Europe, movie openings are generally staggered across the region because producers sell their films’ licensing rights to each individual country. If digital content is allowed to be viewed from anywhere on the continent, it could strike a blow at the smaller content industries, while favoring global giants such as Netflix (O:NFLX) and Apple’s iTunes.
Some are concerned that it may become difficult for independent film distributors to finance European movies if content makers cannot sell films separately within the European Union’s 28 countries.
Others feel the change is long-awaited. At the moment, for example, BBC’s iPlayer cannot be accessed everywhere in Europe but only in the country where it was purchased. With the new ruling, when one pays for the TV license, they will be able to watch iPlayer anywhere in Europe and that’s a boon to the individual consumer. They will be allowed to access content wherever they go.