Europese Commissie lanceert "Licences for Europe"

Neelie Kroes, Speech: Digital technology and copyright can fit together, SPEECH/13/96, 4 februari 2013.

Stakeholders dialogue on copyright "Licences for Europe".

New technologies have huge implications for the creative sector. And for the policies and regulatory structures that underpin it. As many of you will know, I have for a long time called for changes to those structures.

I was first confronted with this relationship as the Competition Commissioner at the time of the "CISAC decision". That dealt with the old-fashioned licensing practices and territorial separation of markets by collecting societies. And that case left me unsatisfied. Because the fact is, old practices need to adapt to new digital realities. That calls for real change and legal and practical solutions: competition tools are not enough for that.

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And it's not just the creative sector that can benefit: scientists and researchers can too. Indeed "Licences for Europe" will deal directly with text and data-mining, automated research techniques that extract meaningful results from vast amounts of text or data.

That can boost research, and potentially save lives. But often it faces significant transaction costs. Because it requires not just a licence to access content, but the permission of each right holder just to copy and reformat each of the huge number of works.

Overall, there's a lot to do. But general trends reassure me: my calls for change, starting over 5 years ago, were not in vain. You are here, so many stakeholders – from copyright owners, users, collecting societies, publishers, universities, and more – and you have reacted so positively and agreed to make things move. For me that shows two important things: first, change is needed; second, we are ready for it.

But technology, and society, are moving forward faster than our framework and licensing practices. I hear all the time about people who want to watch their favourite soap operas across borders, but can't. About those trying to digitise our film heritage and preserve our cultural diversity - but who must deal with a pile of complex licensing requirements. About people afraid to innovate by re-using content. About researchers unable to compete, and citizens unable to benefit from their discoveries, because they can't use the opportunities of technology.

Let me also say a couple of words about the wider context.

So we are launching this initiative to show technology and copyright can go together.

I am not too keen on heavy-handed legislative measures. They aren't always needed; and sometimes, pragmatic and easy-to-implement solutions are just as valid. The goal is to adjust current practices or get rid of costly inefficiencies.

This initiative is called "Licences for Europe": and new licensing approaches for protected content will no doubt feature prominently in your discussions. We do not prejudge its outcome.

But keep your minds open: maybe in some cases licensing won't be the solution. Maybe it will be provided by technology and data, like the Global Repertoire Database or some wider initiative not yet on the table. This exercise will show us how far we can solve our issues within the current framework.