Senior members of the publishing world have adopted a declaration that pledges to protect intellectual property rights in the fast-growing world of online publishing.
The ‘Hamburg Declaration’ was signed by news group chief executives from both the European Publishing Council (EPC) and the World Association of Newspapers following a conference in Germany last month. The declaration calls for “urgent improvements” in the protection of intellectual property on the internet and some form of legal framework to be established to cover every corner of the world wide web.
“The internet offers immense opportunities to professional journalism - but only if the basis for profitability remains secure throughout the digital channels of distribution. This is currently not the case,” the declaration states. It continues:
“Numerous providers are using the work of authors, publishers and broadcasters without paying for it. Over the long term, this threatens the production of high-quality content and the existence of independent journalism.”
“For this reason, we advocate strongly urgent improvements in the protection of intellectual property on the internet.”
“Universal access to websites does not necessarily mean access at no cost. We disagree with those who maintain that freedom of information is only established when everything is available at no cost.”
“Universal access to our services should be available, but going forward we no longer wish to be forced to give away property without having granted permission.”
“We therefore welcome the growing resolve of federal and state governments all over the world to continue to support the protection of the rights of authors, publishers and broadcasters on the internet.”
“There should be no parts of the internet where laws do not apply. Legislators and governments at the national and international level should protect more effectively the intellectual creation of value by authors, publishers and broadcasters. Unauthorized use of intellectual property must remain prohibited whatever the means of distribution.”
“Ultimately, the fundamental principle that no democracy can thrive without independent journalism must also apply to the World Wide Web.”
The declaration has been presented to European Information Society Commissioner Viviane and Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy.
Dr. Mathias Döpfner, CEO of German publisher Axel Springer, said: "I am happy about this international declaration of publishers. This is an important step in the interest of the global internet community. The internet is not our enemy but rather the future of journalism, if intellectual property is respected in the digital world as well."
Springer explained that the group has two main goals: “We want a fair share of the revenues, which are already being generated through the commercial exploitation of our content by others, as well as the development of a market for paid content in the digital world. We are confident that the representatives of search engines and other aggregators will join us in realizing and opening up the opportunities of the market for legitimate paid content in the internet."
Francisco Pinto Balsemao, CEO of the Portuguese media group Impresa, and Chairman of the EPC said: "A fundamental safeguard of democratic society is a free, diverse and independent press. Without control over our intellectual property rights, the future of quality journalism is at stake and with it our ability to provide our consumers with quality and varied information, education and entertainment on the many platforms they enjoy. In this declaration we call on governments worldwide to support the copyright of authors, publishers and broadcasters on the net."
The EPC and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) have collaborated in creating a new tool to enable any content provider to communicate their copyright terms and conditions online in a machine-readable way via ACAP (Automated Content Access Protocol).
As Chairman of ACAP, Gavin O'Reilly, also President of WAN-IFRA, added: "We need search engines to recognize ACAP as a step towards acknowledging that content providers have the right to decide what happens to their content and on what terms. The European Commission and other legislators call on our industry constantly to come up with solutions - here we have one and we call upon the regulators to back it up.”
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