Received from: Equity
EU directives have been vital for creating and improving intellectual property rights that enable performers and authors to get remunerated and to benefit from commercial revenues – and share in the success – of a production, which is given value from their work. Through collective agreements and contracts, Equity is able to negotiate performers’ exclusive rights for secondary and additional use payments for the repeat use of their work.
The new EU Copyright Directive marks a critical step forward for performers and authors in getting fairer remuneration for use of their work, depending on how the UK enshrines the directive into national legislation. For example, there should be full implementation of the “principle of appropriate and proportionate remuneration” in Article 18, by which authors and performers will be able to seek compensation for the exploitation of their work, proportionate to the revenues generated by their material, rather than based on a flat rate. Its aim is to correct a “value gap” that has opened up between content sharing providers and content creators, which has allowed a few companies to earn huge profits without properly remunerating the thousands of creatives whose work they depend on.
Congress calls on the UK government to implement this directive fully into UK law in a manner which delivers on its goals and to work with trade unions and other stakeholders to that end.
Equity