The Committee adopted by a large majority the report by Roberto BARZANTI
(PES, I) on the proposal for a Parliament and Council directive to harmonise
certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society.
The committee has thus responded to the appeal to the President of the
European Parliament, Mr José María GIL-ROBLES, and the Chair of the Legal
Affairs Committee signed by 400 internationally renowned artists, who
protested that they lose vast amounts of income every year as a result of
the free use of musical and audiovisual works on the Internet. The Spice
Girls, Eros Ramazotti, Jean-Michel Jarre and others called for clear, strict
laws on the use of original works and copies on the Internet. In their
appeal they say "Europe has always backed its artists to the hilt by
providing proper protection for intellectual property. We need to safeguard
these rights more than ever today. The directive seeks to adapt existing
legislation on copyright and related rights to take account of the existence
of the information society and provide legal protection in areas such as
rights of reproduction, communication to the public, distribution and legal
protection of anti-pirating systems. The proposal stresses that it seeks to
cover not only creative and performing artists but also producers of CDs and
CD-ROMs and radio stations. The amendments adopted by the Legal Affairs
Committee seek to strengthen support for rightholders so that they can
usually receive a fair remuneration when their works are reproduced or
publicly communicated. This would apply, for example, to private copies of
musical or audiovisual works in the form of cassettes or CDs, for which some
degree of remuneration is required for rightholders. It would also apply to
Internet operators, who would have to pay if they wished to use works on the
Internet.