BREAKING: EU Commission publishes paper on consequences of Brexit on copyright

The IPKat has just been alerted that the EU Commission has published today a document detailing the consequences of Brexit on UK copyright.

“Subject to any transitional arrangement that may be contained in a possible withdrawal agreement [a few days ago it appeared that there might be a 21-month period after Brexit day in which the UK will remain subject to EU rules and the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union], as of the withdrawal date [30 March 2019], the EU rules in the field of copyright will no longer apply to the United Kingdom.”

This, in substance, is the message of the document. 

More specifically, one can learn from the document that – as of the withdrawal date -relevant EU directives and regulations will cease applying to the UK, and the relationships between the EU and the UK (as a third country) will be governed by relevant international treaties to which both are parties, including the WIPO Internet Treaties and TRIPS. 

With regard to EU directives, the document notes that:

• UK-based broadcasters will no longer benefit from the country of origin principle as enshrined in the SatCab Directive;
• EU collective management organisations (CMOs) will no longer be subject to the obligation to represent UK-based CMOs for multiterritorial licensing in accordance with the CRM Directive;
• With regard to orphan works, the mechanism of mutual recognition of the ‘orphan work’ status provided for by the Orphan Works Directive will no longer apply between the UK and the EU;
• UK-based blind/visually impaired/print-disabled person will no longer be able to obtain accessible format copies from authorised entities in the EU under the framework provided for by the recent Directive 2017/1564;
• UK residents will no longer enjoy from the Online Content Portability Regulation [which enters into force on Sunday] to ‘port’ their digital content subscriptions when travelling to the EU;
• UK nationals (unless they have their habitual residence in the EU) and companies/firms formed in accordance with UK law will no longer be entitled to maintain or obtain a sui generis database right in respect of databases in the EU.