Open Letter to Rapporteur Axel Voss on EU Copyright Reform

On 24 April, CDT joined over 50 organisations in an open letter addressed to rapporteur and Member of the European Parliament Axel Voss on the EU copyright reform. The letter particularly focuses on the concerns surrounding the European Commission’s proposal for a neighbouring right for press publishers under Article 11 of the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive. A neighbouring right for publishers, enabling them to charge licensing fees for links to their content, is a misguided attempt to help newspaper publishers access new funding streams that has failed both in Germany and Spain. We call on Mr Voss to delete Article 11 and instead consider proposing a legal presumption, as was proposed by many commentators and academics.