site.btaExpert: Digital Single Market Will Provide Legal Access to Online Music, Films across EU

Expert: Digital Single Market Will Provide Legal Access to Online Music, Films across EU

Sofia, December 22 (BTA) - EU's digital single market will provide legal access to music and films online from every EU country, said in a BTA interview Georgi Damyanov, head of the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Directorate of the Culture Ministry.

He said the European Commission is making efforts to set out a strategy for development of EU's digital single market, of which Bulgaria will be part. The idea is to consolidate EU's fragmented digital and Internet market and give users access to  resources across all EU countries.

According to Damyanov, the most pressing task in the area of copyright is to transpose into Bulgarian legislation Directive 2014/26/EU about the collective management of copyright and related rights. The Directive paves the way for independent management entities [not owned or controlled by rightholders], which will compete to the largest copyright organizations Musicautor and PROPHON. Damyanov says that in Bulgaria the two largest organizations resist the proposal.

One of the Directive's highlights is the multi-territorial licensing of online rights in musical works in all 28 EU countries. This means that smaller organizations are expected to aggregate their music repertoire and request to be represented by another organization on a multi-territorial basis.

In 2015, Musicautor, PROPHON and the Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association signed an agreement, cutting by 25 per cent copyright fees. The Association represents nearly 70 per cent of larger restaurants and hotels.

Damyanov said that his team has made a commitment to bring to light cable TV operators, many of which operate in the informal economy.

TeRaPro, an association which brings together the largest cable TV and telecommunication operators, assist the Directorate in its fight against piracy in the sector by submitting tip-offs.

Under a memorandum signed with the Bulgarian Software Publishers Association, the Culture Ministry receives information whether middle and large companies use legal software.