Copyright and related rights in the information society. Follow up to the Green paper

The Committee adopted the report by Robert BARZANTI (PES, I) on copyright and related rights in the information society in response to the Commission's Green Paper. This calls for a single proposal for a directive dealing with the three outstanding issues still to be settled: - reproduction rights - the right of communication to the public - the right of distribution. The committee wants performers to have the exclusive right of authorizing the direct or indirect reproduction of recordings. Any exceptions to this exclusive right should be strictly limited. Members of the Committee regretted that it had not been possible to reach agreement with the World Intellectual Property Organization on related rights for performers in the audiovisual field. Mr BARZANTI thinks it important to respond to problems associated with developments in digital technology by defining a complete legal framework that goes beyond legal standards and includes European measures against piracy (legal safeguards for the integrity of technical protection and identification schemes.) �