What small business owners need to know about Article 13

What is Article 13?

Article 13, a controversial Copyright Directive, was passed by the European Union on September 12, 2018.

Article 13 aims to make “copyright rules fit for the digital era”.

The directive says that content-sharing services must license copyright-protected material from the rights holders.

What does this mean?

This forces social media platforms, such as Facebook, Google and YouTube, to have responsibility over unlicensed user-uploaded copyrighted material. Under the new legislation, such platforms must take proactive steps to prevent users from sharing unlicensed copyrighted material and to detect videos and content that are copyright-infringed before they are available.

This could be good news for those who hold rights to the copy, such as record labels, authors and artists.

But opponents of Article 13 believe it will stifle user-driven creativity.  Strong slogans warning of “The end of the internet”, and calling Article 13 a “censorship machine” have appeared.

Things will be complex for video gaming You-tubers, for example.  The videos they make are their own, but include copyrighted material in the form of code, images, music etc from the game.  Only test cases in law will tell how this plays out…

Is everyone affected?

Whether or not the UK implements the legislation internally remains to be seen.  However, in any dealings with EU states, Article 13 will stand, and of course, the internet is global.

There ARE exemptions from Article 13, including:

  • non-profit online encyclopaedias
  • open source software development platforms
  • cloud storage services
  • online marketplaces
  • communication services

So what will it mean for you, the owner of a small to medium-sized business?

What will you need to consider regarding your website content and social media marketing?

The recent agreement between France and Germany has resulted in a less hard-line approach for smaller businesses.  New start-ups, websites with annual turnover of less than €10 million and sites with fewer than five million monthly visitors will all benefit from a softer approach.  Some SMEs may still be liable, but if you don’t host user-uploaded content or other copyrighted material, you’re probably OK.

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