New study: Copyright exception for legalising file-sharing is feasible

A landmark study by the Institute of European Media Law (EML) found that a levy on Internet usage legalising non-commercial online exchanges of creative works conforms with German and European copyright law, even though it requires changes in both. The German and European factions of the Green Party who had commissioned the study will make the “culture flat-rate,” as the model is being called in Germany, an issue in their policies. The global debate on a new social contract between creatives and society is getting more pronounced by the day. Two models are emerging: a free-market approach based on private blanket licences and voluntary subscriptions, and a legal license approach based on exceptions in copyright law and mandatory levies, that now has been proven legally feasible and appropriate by the EML study.

Download here a pdf article (1.1MB, 30 pages) with more details and findings about the study. [12May09]