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Germany announce copyright reform plans
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 31 May 2011
Talking of which, the German government has outlined its plans for reforming copyright law – Germany being someway behind other Western European countries in introducing new anti-piracy measures.
Bernd Neumann, Germany’s Minister Of Culture & Media, has resisted calls from the country’s Green Party to put user rights at the heart of copyright reform, and instead seems to be following a similar policy to that employed in the UK and France, in particular making the internet service providers take a more proactive role in policing online piracy. Germany has previously resisted calls for a three-strikes system, though Neumann seems enamoured with at least the warning letters strand of France’s much previously reported Hadopi programme.
Neumann told Billboard: “The cultural damage would be irreparable if artists and creative people who were trying to make a living from their art could no longer support themselves with the income generated by others exploiting their work and in a worst case scenario had to stop their creative work altogether. The economical consequences for large parts of the cultural and creative industry would be incalculable without the enforcement of appropriate copyright legislation”.
Although Germany’s political class does seem to be slowly swinging in favour of the copyright community, some in the German music business are annoyed these plans are unlikely to come into effect until 2013 – they wanting quicker action.