We were delighted and honoured to speak at last week’s lunch event of U.S. Copyright Society (CS USA). The Los Angeles Chapter of the CS USA kindly invited Salomé Cisnal de Ugarte (Brussels), Alberto Bellan (Milan) and myself to sit on a panel together with Susan Cleary, Vice President and General Counsel of the Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA). The panel discussed the new copyright law in Europe brought about by the Digital Single Market strategy that is currently implemented with the EU, and assessed the antitrust and competition issues arising in this context. Corey Field, former President of the U.S. Copyright Society eloquently moderated the panel with more than seventy participants being welcomed at Fox Rothschild’s fine Century City premises in Los Angeles or attending via remote web access. A lively debate emerged circulating around the underlying question “Are the new EU copyright regulations a weird kind of trade war?”
The discussion touched upon various aspects of the Digital Single Market and how it affects U.S. based corporations particularly in the media & entertainment sector. The panel also considered the new Portability Regulation (EU) 2017/1128, the current debate on the draft DSM Copyright Directive COM (2016) 593 and the draft Regulation on Transmissions & Retransmissions of TV and Radio Programs COM (2016) 594. The overall take-away was that the distribution, licensing and use of copyrighted works in Europe will undergo significant changes.
We thank all who joined us for the engaged participation and challenging queries. Special thanks go to Corey Field for his warm words and fine moderation, Jeremy S. Goldman of the L.A. Chapter of the Copyright Society of the USA for his invitation to speak at this lunch event and Fox Rothschild for a brilliantly organized venue.