Germany's Bundestag passes the law transposing the Copyright Directive

By Emmanuel Legrand

Germany's Bunsdestag has voted the proposed law transposing the Copyright Directive into German legislation. 

  The May 20 vote followed last minutes attempts by the creative sector to get a text closer to the original Directive, as the draft proposed by the government introduced additional exemptions. 

  The draft strengthens moral rights in Germany, provides mechanisms to justify immediate blocking, explicitly recognises the protection of melodies and platforms have more stringent reporting obligations. The concept of direct remuneration is limited to music authors and performing artists, while labels and self-released or distributed artists are exempted.

An anti-artist legislation

  However, the creative sector considers that that less positive is the fact that remuneration for exceptions is limited to caricature, parody and pastiche (not quotation) and also remains limited to usages on upload platforms, and the text also limits platform liability even after legal proceedings. 

  The law is expected to be adopted by the high chamber Bundesrat the week starting May 24. 

  Mark Chung, Chair of indie labels' organisation and VUT, said the law remained "anti-artist, anti-European and shockingly remote from practice. A missed opportunity."