Today the EU Parliament voted to pass the draft Copyright Directive into EU law. After adoption by the EU Council (representatives of Member State governments) and official publication, it will become EU law. Member States will then have until mid-2021 to implement it into their national laws. Despite substantial opposition from blocks of MEPs and the large numbers of the general public, the final text does include the controversial press publishers’ right (Article 11) and content sharing service provider liability regime (Article 13). But that is not the whole story: the Directive also contains important new mandatory exceptions benefitting the scientific research sector, help for museums and the like, as well as new rights and protections for authors and performers. Our run down of the whole text is here, with deep dives on Article 11 (renumbered 15) and Article 13 (renumbered 17), here and here.
