The news will prove a worry for anyone relying
on the exemptions since publishing, telecoms, broadcast and music
companies are increasingly turning to streaming and on-demand media
and away from physical or scheduled distribution channels for their
products.
"Normally there is a rule in the [Copyright]
Directive that permits the circumvention of DRM [digital rights
management technology] to a certain extent, but in the case of
on-demand content this rule does not apply," Francisco Javier
Cabrera Blazquez said.
Blazquez was talking to OUT-LAW
Radio, the weekly technology law podcast. He has just published
a review of DRM law in Europe for the European Audiovisual
Observatory, part of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.
"It seems that more and more the industry is
going from physical distribution of CDs and DVDs to internet
distribution, to on-demand distribution of copyright content," he
said. "There could be a problem if exceptions do not apply to
on-demand content and the industry more and more provides content
over on-demand services then to a certain extent the exceptions
wouldn't be applicable any more."
The Copyright Directive says that exceptions
"shall not apply to works or other subject-matter made available to
the public on agreed contractual terms in such a way that members
of the public may access them from a place and at a time
individually chosen by them".
The Directive says that this restriction on
exemptions is designed to provide "a secure environment" for
interactive services.
The Directive "is somewhat contradictory,"
says Blazquez's report. "It does not state that limitations or
exceptions are not applicable to on demand services. Nevertheless
it leaves in the hands of rights holders the means of preventing
the effective benefiting from those limitations or exceptions."
Exceptions are already a controversial area
when it comes to DRM technology. Designed to prevent unauthorised
copying of music or films, DRM can stop a consumer from undertaking
any copying, even that which is permissible in law.
The British Library has spoken out in the past
about how DRM can prevent it from properly archiving and preserving
material, and from making it available to users with
disabilities.
Copyright exemptions in Europe differ
according to the Acts which transposed the EU's Copyright Directive
into law, but it usually allows researchers, academics, some
hospital staff and libraries to use material in the course of their
business in ways that would usually be prohibited by copyright
legislation.
