The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) has backed the European Commission’s (EC) proposal to modernise copyright rules throughout the EU.
The CoR stressed, however, that removing unjustified geo-blocking ‘must not lead to the abolition of the principle of territoriality of copyright’.
An abolition, according to the CoR, could harm Europe’s creative industries and undermine national, regional and local cultural diversity in Europe.
The statement, drafted by Arnoldas Abramavičius (pictured), vice president of the CoR bureau, supports the portability of online content services, which would enable users who have purchased online content or taken out a subscription in their country of origin to access them when they are temporarily present in another member state.
“Right holders need to be sure that portability covers only the most common examples of travel for business, tourism or study purposes, without resulting in the permanent availability of content protected at EU level”, said Abramavičius, who is also a member of Zarasai District Municipal Council.
“Therefore, the opinion requests service providers to verify the member state of residence of their subscribers.
“In the long term, we should proceed towards greater convergence between national copyright systems and aim to harmonise the legal framework for the remuneration of authors, creators and artists.”
