back to article Netherlands plans to make 'copyrighted material easier to use'

The Dutch Government is proposing to make it easier to use copyrighted material without infringing copyright owners' rights and plans to do this "unilaterally" of the EU, according to media in the Netherlands. Bernt Hugenholtz of the Dutch state committee on copyright law said people should be able to use copyrighted works to …

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  1. James Micallef Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Goed gedaan de Nederland

    This is exactly the right way to go forward. Copyright is an important mechanism to allow creative people to profit from their creations for a limited time. Big corporations building a business model around acquiring copyrights and pressing for ever more restrictive laws are not at all helpful to foster new creativity.

    Free fair use of copyrighted works is extremely important to balance copyright with freedom of speech and expression, so this is a great step forward by the Dutch. Hopefully they can push the EU to harmonise EU copyright law along those lines.

    One more suggestion - limit copyright to 20 years from first publication. 20 years is PLENTY of time to profit from a work, and limiting this will encourages creative types to keep on creating more valuable work instead of resting on their laurels after one hit, as they can currently do with 70-year copyrights

  2. Winkypop Silver badge
    Devil

    I find copyrighted material very easy to use

    Oh!

    You mean legally....

    Fair dues.

    1. J.G.Harston Silver badge

      Re: I find copyrighted material very easy to use

      So do I. I've just handed over 50p for a chunk of copyrighted material called a "newspaper".

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    Had better not get too liberal with it or a particular country may start making hints about its piracy watch list again.

    1. Ty Cobb
      Unhappy

      No- I sincerely encourage them to do so

      As a citizen of that "particular country", I would like to see all countries adopt more liberal standard for Fair Use, and shortening of copyright periods.

      Maybe someone on my side of the Pond in a position to make a difference might wake up and realize they are on the wrong side of the issue. At the moment the only ones that realize it are the ones with little to no power.

  4. Sean Timarco Baggaley
    WTF?

    So, the Dutch government is getting its copyright law advice from Google now?

    They're not going to be even remotely biased, are they?

    The only "freedom" Google are interested in is the freedom to make a massive profit from the work of others, who received precisely zilch.

    Even Foxconn workers get paid for what they do, even if it's not very much.

    So, which one is the company building its profits off slave labour again..?

  5. Purlieu

    Camerooned

    Whatever the EU agrees, you can bet that Cameron does not agree to it.

    That is, unless it benefits fat cat bankers etc.

  6. Purlieu

    What did it for me

    was bloody Cliff Richard whining on about how 50 years was not long enough for him to benefit from his "works" .... I mean, mate, if you haven't made enough in the first 50 years, what do you think is going to happen next ? Really ?

    I agrre with the commentard above, who suggests 20 years, though perhaps 25 is better.

    1. Giles Jones Gold badge

      Re: What did it for me

      50 years is pretty insane, it's more like building up a pension than a generating a living.

      But we all know that copyright was increased not for Cliff but for Disney as Mickey Mouse was about to leave copyright.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: What did it for me

      I disagree - as a new writer, even I concede 14 years with NO option to renew is more than adequate. And that would be 14 years from first publication, not 14 from copyright (in the US copyright is defined as beginning when the idea is put down in writing)

  7. Anonymous Coward 15
    Pirate

    Will we be allowed

    to break protective measures in order to make these private copies that we may be getting the right to? Like the opposite of the DMCA?

  8. johnwerneken
    Mushroom

    No Such Thing as Copy Right, and No Such Thing as "Intellectual Property"

    The whole CopyWrong Mafia is just another corporate conspiracy againsty the people. One second creativity deservers no reward; on-going creativity has no problem gathering rewards in plenty, without CopyWrong. No product that is free of cost to reproduce can possibly be sold for long at a profit. Get used to it.

  9. Old Handle
    WTF?

    Whoa

    It comes as a bit of a shock to see my country held up as an example of *good* copyright law. But I suppose one set of laws can be good in some ways and terrible in others at the same time.

  10. asdf
    FAIL

    but think of the executives

    Come on we all know eternal copyright is coming as Disney can never allow steam boat willie (early Mickey Mouse) to become public domain. Its funny how copyright get extended everything this is about to happen.

    1. asdf

      Re: but think of the executives

      that is every time this about to happen, is it quitting time yet?

  11. asdf
    Pint

    weirdly enough

    The US is the king of protecting the corporations but much to Nintendo's dislike the US is also one of the few (if not only one can't remember) that explicitly allows users to make one backup copy of games, etc.

  12. A J Stiles

    Fair Dealing in the UK

    Remember that in the UK, some people don't have to break the law to be labelled a criminal, and some people can keep their "law-abiding citizen" badge despite openly committing several crimes. Such are the wonders of the class system. (On the other hand, under the class system, poor black people get openly sneered at for the contents of their wallets, not so much the colour of their skin. So it makes us less racist.)

    Exactly what constitutes Fair Dealing is for the Courts to decide. No jury in the land would send you down for making a cassette from a CD or LP to listen in your classic car with only a cassette deck, but the CPS wouldn't prosecute such a case precisely because of the precedent it would set.

    The only ways you'd have occasion to worry about it are if Mr Plod obtains a warrant to search your premises on the strength of a home-taped recording seen in your car, and evidence of something more serious comes to light; or if some future government decides to mess with the British court system -- abolishing trial by jury, for instance, or not accepting precedents as binding.

  13. Francis Boyle Silver badge

    Does this mean

    we can have our Hitler parodies back?

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