COPYRIGHT
AND THE PUBLISHER
To the
reader: Why should the publishers be heard?
This pamphlet is about copyright
- the cornerstone of the publishing business. It is about ensuring that
European publishers, who for centuries have provided millions of people
with information tailored to their needs, can evolve with new technology.
It is about survival and jobs, but
even more important, it is about high quality multimedia content in our
information society.
The production of high quality content
demands both experience and financial resources. Publishers and other present
day media employers have both.
We live in a world of time compression.
At the time of writing this, one normal year is said to equal two months
in the Internet world.
In such an environment the acquisition
of copyrights has to be simplified. Publishers have to be able to rely
on the fact that they have a single effective way of clearing copyrights
once and for all - by offering employment.
Those who worry about the production
of European-originated high quality content, should read this pamphlet
and act upon it. New information services and products have been very slow
to evolve in Europe. This pamphlet explains why and what can be done to
change the situation.
It represents an attempt to find
a satisfactory solution to a fundamental copyright issue - and thereby
ensure the future competitiveness of European content production.
It takes into account the differences
in European copyright systems and tries to strike a balance between them
and the most urgent needs of European publishers.
It introduces a new concept of copyright
to employment-related works, which would simplify the future acquisition
and management of multimedia copyrights and ensure that effective safeguards
are taken against copyright violations.
Even though it is not a solution
to all the problems faced by pub-lishers today, it is a step in the right
direction. A step that would benefit the information society as a whole.
Copyright:
What is copyright?
Copyright is an intellectual
property right that protects the economic and moral rights of rights holders.
- reproduction
- paternity
- making available
- integrity to the public
(distribution, rental,
communication to the public etc.)
Publishers:
What is the role of publishers?
Publishers have a vital role to play
in the information society.
-
They create and deliver high quality
multimedia content.
-
Their editorial, marketing and distribution
skills provide a bridge between the creative community and consumers.
What
has changed in general?
The technological
revolution
-
New forms of production and distribution.
-
New forms of reproduction and communication to the public.
-
An integrated information society and a new environment.
A need for a new approach to copyright.
What
has changed for publishers?
Publishers
are adapting to meet the changing needs of consumers.
-
Content has become
independent of the medium by which it is delivered.
-
Publishers
provide their customers with added-value products and services in the form
(print, CD-ROM and on-line) they require.
-
Publishers must
make significant investments to meet these needs in an uncertain world.
But they face rising production and distribution costs, and erosion of
their advertising base.
What
should change in order to foster investment?
Like any business, publishers
must be able to:
-
use the material for which they have
paid to
-
deliver the products and services to
their customers in the form and delivery method they require.
If publishers cannot do this with certainty,
they cannot justify the necessary investment. This means that everyone
- the creator, the publisher and the consumer - loses out.
*
Therefore it is essential that publishers
have a 'future-proof' right to use (and re-use) the material created by
their employees in all media
i.e. undisputed economic rights to
employment-related works.
Who is
protected? - one approach to copyright:
In the United States Copyright is
by law vested in the individual creator OR the employer/commissioning party,
if the work is created for hire, i.e. at the risk of the employer or the
party commis-sioning the work.
This is known as the work-for-hire
concept. In some countries in Europe (e.g. the United Kingdom and the Netherlands)
this concept has been adopted in relation to employee-created works.
*
In many European countries copyright
is still vested only in the individual creator,
irrespective of, whether the
work is created under a regular employment contract or for hire at the
employer's/commissioning party's risk, OR whether the financial risk is
fully or partially borne by the individual creator.
However, copyright law has already
been harmonized throughout the EU for software programs. Employers own
the copyright in relation to programs created by employees.
What
happens if no joint approach is adopted?
If no joint
approach to copyright in relation to works created during employment is
adopted, all attempts at harmonization on an EU-level will only
* create confusion
and greater differ-nces between European publishers on national levels
and thereby
* disturb the
proper functioning of the Internal Market and
* give non-European
publishers, who enjoy full work-for-hire rights, a superior competitive
advantage.
What
disadvantages does the present situation bring?
When copyrights
are vested in the employees, their employers face:
* cumbersome
and costly copyright clearance processes and multiple payments;
* restricted
availability and use of old material; and
* uncertainty
as to whether all the necessary rights have been cleared before economic
risks are taken.
Many European
publishers are discouraged from investing in new products and services
by an endless circle of securing rights for everyday business development
over and over again from employees that have already been remunerated.
At the same
time,
US publishers,
among others, are free to develop their business without any such hindrances,
as new copyrights are auto-matically vested in the employer in work-for-hire
countries.
What
should be done?
As the objective
is simplification, the minimum requirement is that
* all employers
be granted, by law, adequate copyright to works created by their employees
during employment without
-
reducing any protection
currently enjoyed under national legislation or
-
changing already
existing agreements
How
can these objectives be achieved?
A new concept
of employment-related copyright
* Economic
rights (for both known and future uses) should be vested in the employer.
Future rights
can not be excluded. Publishers must have adequate control over their copyrights
to be able to adapt effectively to changes in their environment without
asking for the consent of each employee.
Employees receive
full compensation for their time and effort in the form of salaries, holidays,
sick leave, pension, etc. Unlike most independent creators, composers,
writers, freelancers, etc., employees do not bear the economic risk of
the success or failure of their works.
* Moral rights
of authors will not be affected and will remain, therefore, subject to
existing national solutions. Moral rights may be waivable by contract even
when originally vested in the employee.
The PROs
of publisher ownership
* Consumers
will be guaranteed a diverse supply of European-produced, high quality
content.
* Society will
benefit from easier access to employment-related material, as consent to
reuse can be sought from one known source - the publisher.
* Individual
creators will benefit from the fact that publishers, as copyright holders
of employment-related works, would have both the incentive and the resources
to fight copyright violations effectively.
* European
publishers will be able to develop high quality multimedia content on reasonably
competitive terms com-pared to their US counterparts.
* Employees
will benefit in the form of new job opportunities and better job security.
The CONs
of publisher ownership
The fact that
employers would be able to make full use of works created during employment,
would take nothing away from the employees. The overall value of their
work is reflected in their salaries and benefits.
It is not possible,
however, to enjoy full employment benefits and have the right to compete
with one's employer at the same time.
Putting
the information society to perspective
Even today,
there is still no solution more cost-effective and efficient for communicating
the amount of news, information and entertainment contained in a newspaper
or magazine than by printing it, distributing it by road and rail and selling
it for a few ECUs. This may not always be the case, and Europe's newspaper
and magazine publishers as well as book publishers are already facing choices
that will affect the future of their businesses, their readers and their
employees.
Every day publishers
have to make decisions about how and when to enter new markets as well
as whether and when to take advantage of digital technology through on-line
services and new forms of off-line delivery such as CD-ROM.
These choices
involve major investment decisions. Publishers must be able to continue
to meet consumers' needs, to become more competitive and to contribute
to employment and economic growth.
In other words
publishers must be given ownership of copyright to employment-related works.
We have tried to answer the whys, whats and hows. What remains is when
- when will European publishers enjoy the same rights as their US com-petitors?
For this we
turn to our readers - let it be now. |