The KEA Blog

Territorial exploitation of copyrights under threat

Advocate General’s opinion in the Premier league case: the territorial exploitation of copyrights under threat

Introduction

The High Court of Justice in the UK has addressed a reference for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice of the EU in relation to two actions brought against suppliers of equipment and satellite decoder cards to pubs and bars in the UK. The Football Association Premier League (FAPL) and Media Protection Services Ltd claim that access in the UK to live football matches through non-UK satellite channels (Greek NOVA channel) which use authorized decoder cards outside their territory infringe their rights on satellite transmission of their football matches. The reason is that under the licensing agreement with FAPL broadcasting organizations can only broadcast live football matches in their own territory and are therefore prohibited from using the decoder cards outside this area. In her opinion the Advocate General (AG) has analyzed the so-called grey market for satellite transmissions of live football matches that according to the KEA Study on the Conditional Access Directive is the main form of cross-border broadcasting[1].  In her attempt at whitening this market the AG announces quasi-mandatory pan-European licences for transfrontier pay TV-services.  

 

Koło zamachowe zamiast fajerwerków

Kreatywność jest dla artystów jest tym, czym dla naukowców albo inżynierów innowacja – narzędziem do wytwarzania realnej zmiany. O nowej definicji klasy kreatywnej, potencjalne Brukseli i o sposobach na czerpanie zysków z kultury opowiada Phillippe Kern

EU Observer Conference 26 January 2011 - Philippe Kern's keynote on Cultural Diversity and EU 2020 - Transcription

I have been asked to consider whether cultural diversity is part of the EU 2020 project which is to make a smart, inclusive and sustainable Europe.

People want jobs, prosperity – this requires our economy to grow and our industries to be more productive and competitive. Can cultural diversity contribute and in which ways?  

The premises of this presentation are that the European project is the fruit, the result of tensions between cultures, identities, ideas.  This tension and differences have led to wars between European nations in the past but has also led to the European project.    60 years later these cultural differences have made Europe the largest trading bloc in the world and the wealthiest.  It is the confrontation, the pluralism of languages and cultures that has liberated thoughts, promoted intellectual exchanges, scientific and artistic development, and openness to the world.  This diversity should continue to shape Europe’s destiny and sustain the European dream.

The presentation will :

-          Review EU 2020 and the flagship initiatives in light of cultural diversity.
-          Consider the single market challenges in light of cultural diversity.
-          Examine the contribution of cultural diversity to EU 2020.

To read the full transcription: http://www.keanet.eu/docs/culturaldiversity%20eu2020.pdf

 

Public Consultation on the CIP programme - KEA’s contribution – CIP to Promote Creativity

 This contribution to the CIP public consultation aims to show that culture and creative industries as well as the promotion of cultural diversity should be part of the CIP programme to implement the EU 2020 project which is to make a smart, inclusive and sustainable Europe.  The Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) (http://ec.europa.eu/cip/index_en.htm) is one of the key funding instruments in support of competitiveness.

Summary of Proposals:

1. CIP should be part of the cultural agenda as culture is a catalyst for creativity.
2. CIP needs to recognise the cross-sectoral and multi-disciplinary aspects of “creativity” which mixes elements of “artistic creativity”, “economic” as well as “technological innovation”.
3. CIP should be more accessible to creative industries to implement a linkage between creativity and innovation. It should foster ICT and Creative industries incubation schemes to promote spill overs.
4. CIP should support investment in culture and creative industries  ( and specifically mandate the EIB and the EIF).
5. CIP should support the ECIA initiative – European Creative Industry Alliance and tailor support measures to creative SMEs.
6. CIP should establish a creativity index or complement the innovation scoreboard with creativity indicators. (See KEA suggestion in this respect in the study “The Impact of Culture on Creativity” – Annex 2).
7. CIP should support SMEs in the creative sector to achieve scale (acting collectively so that they can influence market development – as European SMEs often command collectively a 25% market share in the respective cultural sectors) and make rights licensing less costly. CIP has yet to engage with SMEs from the culture and creative sector.  
8. CIP should contribute to celebrate and brand “a Creative Europe” in a large promotional campaign  in conjunction with other EU programmes such as the Culture Programme;    Europe to celebrate the contemporary and not only the heritage.  
9. CIP to fund studies on the importance of brands, creativity and the immaterial in innovation strategies and competitiveness.
10.  CIP should fund benchmarking raster/indicators to measure impact of local policy measures to support CIs.

To read the full document :http://www.keanet.eu/docs/CIP%20contribution%20final.pdf

 

EU Observer Conference: Cultural Diversity and Europe 2020: nuisance or necessity?

See below link to an Interview given at the conference on 26 January 2011 by Philippe Kern :

 http://www.youtube.com/euobservertv#p/u/9/hxYaZgpwqC0