Today, the Swedish Parliament has voted through amendments to, among other things, the Copyright Act (prop. 2021/22:278 Upphovsrätten på den digitala inre marknaden). The proposals are based on the EU’s Digital Single Market (DSM) directive and contain new rules to modernise and adapt copyright to digital developments.
The new regulations take effect on January 1, 2023. Of great importance are provisions aimed at fulfilling Article 17 of the DSM Directive. This Article is about the responsibility digital platforms have for content that their users upload. The platform provider, for example Youtube, is given clarified responsibilities for user-uploaded content. The platform must try to enter into agreements with the rights holders, and they are obliged to act when material is uploaded against the rights holders will.
The Rights Alliance think that the purpose of the changes is good, but we would have liked an implementation closer to the directive’s wording.
The views we expressed in our consultation response remain. There we stated in particular that the Swedish proposal should:
1) Be as similar to the directive as possible
2) Include more services
3) Include live broadcasts
4) Have a more distinct responsibility for notice and stay-down
5) Have more distinct reporting requirements for sharing services
6) Have more distinct and longer-term responsibilities for sharing services
Published: 2022-12-01