| Abstract [eng] |
Following the adoption of the controversial Copyright Directive in the Digital Single Market (DSMD), EU copyright regulation is witnessing sweeping changes that will fundamentally reform the landscape of the digital EU market. Perhaps the most discussed part about this legislative process has been Art. 17 of the DSMD, which has raised many questions about how the envisaged mechanism should work in practice and what the involved risks are. This Master's thesis deals with the implementation of Art. 17. Although the issue of implementation has already been examined in the work of academics, there is currently no consensus on an optimal Art. 17 implementation model. Moreover, currently available proposals of Member States are radically different and have certain impurities to be corrected. This paper discusses the genesis of the BSR Directive, Art. 17 and the rationale for its policy goal – tackling the value gap. The main focus of this thesis is an extensive and detailed analysis of the provisions of Art. 17 to reveal its problematic aspects in regard to its implementation. Finally, implementation projects in selected Member States are discussed, comparing their essential features, strengths and weaknesses. This paper emphasizes that transposition of Art. 17 within the limits of the DSMD text is an inadequate implementation of the DSMD that will not result in a functioning legal mechanism and will not provide crucial legal certainty for content sharing providers, users and content creators and other rightsholders alike. It is also demonstrated that a sustainable balance of rights and interests will only be achieved if the rights of users are taken into account throughout the content verification process, and if the process itself, along with its scope, is based on the principle of proportionality. Finally, the paper presents a balanced strategic concept of implementation based on the insights of this thesis, concentrated into an improved Austro-German model. |
