In June 2021, important copyright contract rules regarding the relation between creators, authors, performers and their contractual counterparts, the operators (publishers and broadcasters) came into law. These contractual counterparts are allowed by the creators to exploit their work and make money from it. The intention was to strengthen the bargaining power of the creators.
This better bargaining position is to be achieved, among other things, through a so-called ‘transparency obligation’. This transparency obligation will enter into force on June 7, 2022 and will apply immediately and to all agreements existing at that time. Only when there is no exploitation anymore will the obligation to provide information stop. Operators of materials protected by copyright will then be obliged to keep creators – such as authors and musicians – informed of how their work is being exploited. In addition, they must inform creators about the income from exploitation and the remuneration to be paid.
In addition, there is now extra protection for press publishers. From now on, material from press publications, for example newspaper articles, may not simply be used on digital news services, such as Google News. The user must have permission for this. He must pay for this permission. This lasts for 1 year after the material has been made public. The protection does not apply to very small pieces or hyperlinks.
These changes to the benefit of authors and performers furthermore are:
- a right to appropriate (fair) remuneration (art. 18);
- a right to additional fair remuneration, in case the agreed payment turns out to be “disproportionately low” (art. 20);
- access to voluntary alternative dispute resolution (art. 21); and
- a right of revocation of licenses or transfers where there is “lack of exploitation” (art. 22).
