The AAPA Calls for Strengthened Anti-Piracy Measures  in the JURI Committee DSA Opinion

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The AAPA Calls for Strengthened Anti-Piracy Measures in the JURI Committee DSA Opinion

29 September 2021

We, as the Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA), are representatives of a broad range of companies involved in the fight against illegal content.

We very much appreciate the continuous support provided by the JURI Committee Rapporteur towards the audiovisual industry, both in the current and past legislature. We also recognize the difficulty of finding a balanced approach on the Digital Services Act (DSA) in a challenging political environment. However, we would like to express our views about the latest compromise amendments (CAs) introduced last week on this file, ahead of the vote which will take place tomorrow on the JURI opinion.

The audiovisual industry remains one of the most impacted sectors by copyright infringements and piracy, with damaging consequences for the actors of the sector and beyond. We believe the DSA is a unique opportunity to address the issue of audiovisual piracy spreading online, thereby also protecting audiovisual content.

Despite his efforts to clarify certain provisions, and a couple of helpful modifications proposed, the JURI Committee Rapporteur CAs do not go far enough to limit the spread of illegal content online and produce a meaningful and positive impact for the audiovisual sector.

Specific time frames for the removal of illegal content (Rapporteur’s CA 4)

The Rapporteur’s CA 4 on Article 5 (Hosting) contains specific deadlines for the withdrawal of different types of illegal content.

We strongly support the Rapporteur’s proposal on the removal of live illegal broadcast “as soon as possible and in any event within 30 minutes where the illegal content pertains to the broadcast of a live sports or entertainment event”. It is of the utmost importance for AAPA members to ensure in the DSA that “expeditious removals” means as fast as possible and immediately during live broadcasts, which is critical due to the time sensitivity of this type of content whose value is based on its live nature.

However, in our view, the other time limits proposed in the CA would fail to effectively address the spread of other illegal content online as it actually happens, for the following reasons:

  • Firstly, it only takes a few minutes for audiovisual content to be pirated, causing immediate and substantial damage to right holders and the whole ecosystem.
  • Secondly, some digital services already assess and remove illegal content within much shorter time frames than the 24-hour or 72-hour deadlines proposed in the CA, which would in fact represent a step back.

Notice & Action Mechanism (Rapporteur’s CA 14)

We have also observed that the Rapporteur’s CA 14 on Article 14 (6) (Notice & Action Mechanism) is introducing some positive language, unlike the alternative CAs submitted by the S&D, the Greens, and Renew Europe, allowing hosting services to prevent illegal content from reappearing on their service.

We also welcome the Rapporteur’s proposal to include providers of livestreaming platform services in the scope of the Notice and Action Mechanism and in particular the fact that the notices

The full paper can be downloaded here

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