Europe Will End Copyright Restrictions

A new Digital Single Market Strategy was adopted by the European Commission in order to improve consumer access to digital services and goods. Europe promised to abolish geo-blocking and lift other unwarranted copyright restrictions.

The situation in Europe is the following: because of complicated licensing agreements, such popular media services as Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Instant Video, and even YouTube can now be accessed only in a few dozen countries with a different content library.

In order to end such geo-blocking practices, the European Commission adopted the new Digital Single Market Strategy, which aims at providing consumers and businesses with better access to digital goods and services. The Commission described unjustified geo-blocking as “a discriminatory practice used for commercial reasons”. The new strategy also involves the improved European copyright law, which would make it easier for consumers to access and enjoy content on the Internet by being able to access content they purchased at home in other countries.

The Commission points out that the movie industry needs to adapt to the new realities of the digital age to let European citizens make full use of the potential of new digital services and goods.

In fact, this new Digital Single Market Strategy was anticipated by the industry observers, and not without a reason: in the past, several insiders called for the lifting of many unnecessary copyright restrictions in the region. Now the plans went official, and the industry experts are waiting for the proposals to follow and the copyright industries to respond.