Dutch government presents new policy on copyright

Creators and rights holders deserve more support in the struggle against the distribution of infringing digital content. Trust in copyright is an issue that will receive more attention. The position of authors and artists in the negotiations publishers and labels will be strengthened with a bill on contracts for authors. European initiatives in to better enable the emergence of new digital distribution models will be supported, especially in the fields of international licences and the use of orphan works.

There you have them: the focal points of the new Dutch copyright policy for the coming years. Undersecretary of Justice, Fred Teeven of the liberal party, sent a letter to Parliament in which he introduced the direction the government will be taking.

The proposed measures aim to stimulate the production and the consumption of creative works by supporting the development of legal distribution, while at the same time fighting the abundant unlawful supply.

Developing a contract for authors and supporting European initiatives to stimulate the further development of digital distribution models, the Dutch government aims to contribute to a favourable climate for the creation and distribution of goods. These proposals are probably not all that sensitive.

Proposals that aim to take action against infringing distribution, however, generally are. Very sensitive. Undersecretary Teeven wants to make downloading infringing content, such as games, movies and music, illegal. In enforcing this ban on downloading, Teeven is quick to emphasise not to target individual downloaders, but on the suppliers of content and on the sites that provide access to infringing content. Teeven writes in the letter: “There can be no question of criminalising internet users or terminating internet connections.” Three-strikes legislation, like in France or the UK do not correspond with this administration’s goal of supporting an open and accessible internet.

Downloaders will not be prosecuted; instead, they will be motivated to change their behaviour. Teeven proposes to send letter in which alleged file-sharers are reprimanded. People who upload or distribute infringing material on a large scale will be met with a sterner approach. The government wants to develop a civil framework that provides rights holders with sufficient means to fight infringing sites and platforms, even if these suppliers or distributors act from other countries. Consumers that up- and download on a modest sclae should not be targeted, Teeven wrote.

Opponents often play the censorship card when such measures are proposed. That, however, is not the right qualification: measures against sites and large scale uploaders are enforced through court, not through the government itself.

When the parliamentary commission presented their controversial copyright report last year, Teeven had also proclaimed to favour a ban on downloading. Sending admonishing letters, he claimed would, lead to a 80 to 85% decrease in downloading.

It remains unclear which role will be attributed to internet providers in the proposal. If foreign sites do not cooperate with a court order to make their site inaccessible in The Netherlands, as happened earlier with The Pirate Bay, ISPs may be asked to step in. The Pirate Bay did not answer the court’s demand, after which Brein asked the court to require of Ziggo, the largest ISP in The Netherlands, that they make the site inaccessible to its users. The judge ruled that this measure went too far.

Read the whole letter (In Dutch) here.