-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [fcf_discussion] "Too much copyright is detrimental to cultural expression" Unesco report (From EDRI gram, Christiana Mauro) Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2010 15:13:16 +0200 From: david@davidhammerstein.org <david@davidhammerstein.org> Reply-To: fcforum_discussion@list.fcforum.net To: IP wg <ip@tacd.org>, fcforum_discussion@list.fcforum.net ** Copyright and cultural diversity** The conclusions of a study completed by a Geneva-based lawfirm, which summarises the state of implementation of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (ratified by the EC in 2007),was presented to the Culture and Education Committee (CULT). The study focused on fields where the EU would be expected to provide leadership. A good deal of attention is paid to the regulatory implications of digital media and the research team adopts an emphatically critical approach to the idea of enhancing copyright. During the workshop, the head of the study, Christophe Germann, said that while some copyright is necessary, the research team had come to the conclusion that too much copyright “is detrimental to diversity of cultural expression” and that policy-makers in the EU are generally overly exposed to lobbyists that “repeat the prevailing dogma about the need for better copyright law”. According to the assessment, policy-makers who only listen to the loudest and strongest voice fail to implement the parts of the Convention they consider most valuable; diversity of cultural expression is particularly threatened by IPRs “in markets that are dominated by big corporations exercising collective power as oligopolies”. The study considered selective state aid mechanisms in the audiovisual field risky insofar as they not only represent an incentive to clientelism but also serve as a bad model for authoritarian regimes with regard to the possibility of covert censorship and inhibiting cultural entrepreneurship. Dr. Germann was highly critical of the the fact that so far there had not been any formal discussions between the EU and WTO on questions of trade and culture, and he pointed out that during recent international trade negotiations the issue of “cultural exceptions” was not even raised by the EU. He also indicated that culture-related aspects of intellectual property rights might have translated into increasingly well-articulated norms of law. The need to distinguish between patents and public health was also mentioned, and the EU was admonished for negotiating TRIPS-plus, which would “export regulations to jurisdictions that don't have proper competition law to balance protection with IPR”. Mira Burri (World Trade Institute) presented the assessment of implementation of the UNESCO Convention in EU internal policies, and reminded the Commission that mainstreaming a culture obligation into all relevant policy decisions is one of the obligations under the Convention. Ms. Burri said the Commission should be particularly cautious when pushing for extending copyrights “which could also //reduce// creativity” and “have an important impact on freedom” - especially with respect to the implementation of rules such as "3 strikes" and the enforcement of copyright through intermediaries. Overall, she declared, the interests and rights of users are not duly protected in negotiations. Doris Pack (EPP, Germany and CULT Chairwoman) closed the session with a sharp rebuke of the authors' inclusion of the oft cited Jean Monnet quote “If I had to start all over I would start with culture” (referring to the coal and steel agreements that initially formed the basis of the European Community), calling it “nonsense” (“How could anyone imagine that he ever said that?”), and asking the authors to delete it from an otherwise good study. The UNESCO Study on EU implementation of the 2005 UNESCO Convention is available here: bit.ly/aIPdJr <http://edri.jottit.com/bit.ly/aIPdJr> (French and German translations forthcoming). A summary of the UNESCO Study is available here: bit.ly/9XyuKZ <http://edri.jottit.com/bit.ly/9XyuKZ>.