The revamped copyright directive, the first overhaul in two
decades, aimed to provide fair compensation for the bloc's $1 trillion creative
industry and its 11.7 million employees.
It triggered a fierce lobbying battle, pitting artists and
news publishers against tech companies, Internet activists and consumer groups,
with France also joining the fray while Poland took its grievance to a court.
A key provision, Article 17, backed by the creative
industry, would force Google-owned YouTube, Facebook's Instagram, and other
sharing platforms to install filters to prevent users from uploading
copyrighted materials.
The platforms can be sued for making copyright-infringing
content available to the public, even where it has been uploaded by their
users. Critics however say filters are costly and could lead to erroneous
blocking.
EU countries have until June 7 to transpose the directive
into national law.
The Commission in its policy paper published on Friday said
Article 17 would only apply to online service providers and online audio and
video streaming service providers which make money from copyrighted work
uploaded to their platforms by their users.
Not-for-profit online encyclopaedias and educational bodies,
open source software platforms, and online marketplaces would be exempt from
the rule.
Companies may escape liability if they can show that they
have made their best efforts to obtain authorisation for copyrighted works on
their platforms and acted speedily to remove content when notified.
To mollify Internet activists, the Commission said Article
17 should not apply to caricature, parody, criticism, review, and quotation.
It said automated blocking of content should only be limited
to manifestly infringing uploads and that EU countries should provide a
complaint and redress mechanism to service providers so that their users can
use it in the event of disputes. -Reuters