VG Media invi­ted peo­p­le to attend an event on the topic of “The importance of ancil­la­ry copy­rights for media diver­si­ty in Euro­pe” held at the Bava­ri­an Repre­sen­ta­ti­on in Brussels on Wed­nes­day.

In her wel­co­me address, Maren Ruh­fus, Mana­ging Direc­tor of VG Media, high­ligh­ted the huge eco­no­mic signi­fi­can­ce of ancil­la­ry copy­rights for pri­va­te TV chan­nels and radio sta­ti­ons and also for press publishers.

“The­se work media­tors play a signi­fi­cant part in pro­mo­ting crea­ti­vi­ty and in main­tai­ning media diver­si­ty and a plu­ra­li­ty of opi­ni­ons. On the one hand, TV chan­nels, radio sta­ti­ons and press publishers see to it that con­tent is com­pi­led and dis­tri­bu­ted, and also faci­li­ta­te the clas­si­fi­ca­ti­on of infor­ma­ti­on, news, cul­tu­re and enter­tain­ment. And on the other hand, they gua­ran­tee the finan­cial and orga­ni­sa­tio­nal para­me­ters requi­red for the many crea­ti­ve indi­vi­du­als they employ. In all the upco­ming pro­po­sals for reforms in Euro­pe, the­re needs to be some reco­gni­ti­on of the inter­de­pen­dence of work ori­gi­na­tors and users,” said Maren Ruh­fus.

She went on to say that robust ancil­la­ry copy­rights for press publishers on the one hand and broad­cas­ting com­pa­nies being allo­wed to bene­fit from pri­va­te copy remu­ne­ra­ti­on on the other are important pre­re­qui­si­tes for safe­guar­ding qua­li­ty and diver­si­ty –some­thing which is in the inte­rests of the work ori­gi­na­tors too. In his ope­ning words, Gün­ther Oet­tin­ger, Euro­pean Com­mis­sio­ner for Digi­tal Eco­no­my and Socie­ty, stres­sed that the digi­tal media mar­kets are in need of tho­rough and fast reform, adding that he would be pre­sen­ting a pro­po­sal for copy­right reform at the end of the year.

“Glo­bal Inter­net enter­pri­ses such as Goog­le, Face­book and other plat­forms are, of cour­se, more than wel­co­me here! But what we need is a level play­ing field.”

He the­r­e­fo­re also expres­sed a clear inte­rest in the pro­gress made with enfor­cing press ancil­la­ry copy­rights in Ger­ma­ny. In the panel dis­cus­sion which fol­lo­wed invol­ving MEP Julia Reda and MEP Sabi­ne Ver­he­yen, the VG Media Advi­so­ry Board mem­bers Chris­toph Kee­se, Exe­cu­ti­ve Vice Pre­si­dent of Axel Sprin­ger SE, Dr Mat­thi­as Kir­schen­ho­fer, Gene­ral Coun­sel at Con­stan­tin Medi­en AG, and David Wood, Legal Coun­sel at ICOMP, dis­cus­sed the Euro­pean reform plans. VG Media alre­a­dy licen­ses ancil­la­ry copy­rights for media com­pa­nies throug­hout Euro­pe. With its legal exper­ti­se and many years of expe­ri­ence with exer­cis­ing and enfor­cing ancil­la­ry copy­rights, VG Media will hence­forth play a more acti­ve part in the deba­te regar­ding the upco­ming copy­right reforms at the Euro­pean level along­side its part­ners in Brussels.