Creative rights in focus at copyright summit
HELENA SPONGENBERG
29.05.2007 @ 07:26 CET
EUOBSERVER / CREATIVE RIGHTS - The world of creative rights holders and the media industry will descend on Brussels for a two-day meeting this week for the first international Copyright Summit to debate the future of copyright in the multi billion euro music and movie industry.
The event – organised by the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) – will take place on Wednesday and Thursday (30-31 May) and focus on the future of copyright in the ever-changing world of creative media.
The EU digital music sector alone is set to become a €3.9 billion a year industry by 2011 and in 2005, CISAC's member societies' collected royalties worldwide peaked at €6.8 billion.
The French-based international group represents more than 2.5 million creators and editors of artistic works in all genres including music, drama, literature, audiovisual, photography and the visual arts.
"We felt it was really important to organise an event that puts under the same roof people that often have different opinions about how to adapt the [ways of] licensing…in the 21st century," Eric Babtiste – head of CISAC – told EUobserver.
The goal of the summit is to better understand the intertwined relations between technology companies and the creative community and to find solutions that respond to the needs and interests of copyright users, creators, and the public, he explained.
Brussels was chosen to host the event because it has become the centre of attention for the media industry and creative rights holders after the European Commission launched its 2005 recommendation on "collective cross-border management of copyright and related rights for legitimate online music services."
EU political voices have also touched upon copyright levies - a one-off tax which consumers in 21 EU countries need to pay when buying technical equipment such as computers, DVD-recorders or MP3 players - and upon Digital Rights Management (DRM), a method of restricting consumers' use of purchased music.
The list of participants at the summit includes singer/songwriters and movie makers such as Robin Gibb from the BeeGees, Billy Bragg, France's Agnes Jaoui and Charles Aznavour.
The EU culture commissioner Jan Figel will also speak at the summit as will major players representing the media industry, such as Google, Microsoft, Record companies Vivendi and EMI, as well as the European collecting societies.
Mr Babtiste explained that Europe's collecting societies, which have come under criticism for being old fashioned when collecting royalties and distributing them to copyright holders - some of which have done so for more than 100 years, are open to change even if it would be difficult initially.
This year's copyright summit will focus on creators "which are at the heart and origin of the entire entertainment business and without which there would be nothing to download," CISAC said in a statement.
Mr Babtiste hopes that the participants will leave the summit feeling that they have more in common than they think and that the copyright summit will become an annual event.
"Things are changing so fast that the solution that we might find together in 2007 may not be valid for the challenges in 2008 or 2009," he added.