Towards flexible copyright in the Netherlands

Fitting European copyright law into modern technology is one of the hot topics being discussed in Europe. For example, the Dutch government wants copyright law to be more flexible so new media users, such as YouTube users, can continue to make “creative remixes” of copyright protected content. This subject was discussed on 10 February 2012 at the conference "Towards Flexible Copyright" in The Hague, the Netherlands.

One of the speakers was Bernt Hugenholtz, copyright law professor at the University of Amsterdam and member of the Dutch Copyright Committee. He stated European copyright law is out-dated because the exceptions on copyright do not take new technology into account. Hugenholtz refers to YouTube that would be affected by out-dated copyright law. “Many of the videos we find there are creative remixes of material protected under copyright law. They’re mostly for laughs of political commentary, or they’re simply absurd. If we applied the law today strictly, we would not be allowed to do these things”, Hugenholtz stated.

Another speaker at the conference was Fred Von Lohmann who is the chief of copyright counsel for Google. He agreed with Hugenholtz and stated the time is ripe for Europe to make future-proof copyright law. Also, he told attendees that copyright holders should embrace new technologies instead of fearing them.

Reference: Radio Netherlands Worldwide
 
By: Deniece Teterissa