On 5th December 2013, the European Commission launched a Public Consultation on the review of the EU copyright rules. The deadline for submissions was set at 5th February 2014.
Although the consultation is said to focus on the EU copyright regulatory framework in general, all questions seem to relate to the internet.
This Public Consultation provides a unique opportunity for the parties in the vertical value chain of production and distribution of audiovidual media services (producers, broadcasters, aggregators, operators of distribution platforms) to promote an entirely new system. The current system is inefficient for reason that it requires an ever increasing number of transactions (with an increasing number of collective rights managment organisations, all representing only parts of the rights required and/or only parts of the right holders in a certain category of rights). The current system also leads to continuous litigation and hampers or delays the development of new and innovative services. It would be much better to find commercial solutions.
X-Media Strategies knows how to achieve this goal and has been deeply involved in the ongoing process in The Netherlands to replace the system of collective rights management by commercial agreements between all parties in the value chain.