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A common platform

A common platform for the defence of private copy


In December 2006, the President of the European Commission postponed adoption of a Recommendation aiming to challenge systems currently existing in 21 of the 27 EU member states providing for an exception and private copy levies.

This Recommendation aimed to promote the generalization of DRM (Digital Right Management) in replacement of the exception for private copy, with foreseeable consequences:

  •  generalization of the need for the public to obtain prior authorization before proceeding with any private copy,
  •  disappearance of private copy levies to the detriment of creators, performers and producers, since the public will refuse in the future to pay such levies on blank media (CDs, DVDs, digital memory, etc), allowing private copy if it is in some way integrated in the selling price of works and services,
  •  reduction in the revenues of authors, performers and producers confronted with the growing power of multinational companies in IT, consumer electronics and telecommunications,
  •  lack of genuine protection of works and services, since the capacity of technology to “protect” them is challenged every day as such,
  •  considerable slowing of the growth of the digital market, because of reservations of the part of the public in the fact of restrictions to the use and interoperability of DRMs as well as the weakening of its ability as recognized today to proceed without prior authorization with private copy,
  •  disappearance of a concerted cultural management system that contributes significantly to financing young creators and cultural diversity. Private copy enables private individuals to copy protected works in exchange for a levy paid back to rights holders. This system provides for a fair balance between the parties:
  •  the public, which can freely make copies of works for their own private use without requiring prior authorization and for a very low price,
  •  rights holders, who benefit from true remuneration for private copy of protected works,
  •  manufacturers of recording devices and equipment, whose sales are stimulated by the offered in this way to private individual to make copies.

    This system also provides a key way to fund cultural activities. In France, 25% of the sums collected must go to assisting creation, promoting live performances and training artists. Every year, 45 to 50 million euros are dedicated by collective management societies to supporting artistic vitality and employment in cultural fields.

    The disappearance of resources from private copy would directly affect the general economy of live performance and creation. It would weaken cultural diversity and reduce access to culture.

    As the European Union is ratifying the Convention on Cultural Diversity voted by UNESCO, the draft recommendation being considered by the European Commission represents a serious breach of this Convention, as well as the cultural ambition that, in France and in all of Europe, form one of the key elements in our identity, as well as of our economic dynamism.

    Rights holders and the public refuse that these benefits be put into question on the pretext of the unjustified frontal attack of the Copyright Levies Reform Alliance (CLRA), grouping in particular such non-European enterprises as Adobe, Apple, Canon, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, JVC, Microsoft, Pioneer, Samsung and Sony.

    Rights holders and the public:

  •  refuse to see the fair balance set up by current measures ensuring remuneration for private copy put in jeopardy,
  •  emphasize that implementing such a policy would inevitably cause losses in funding for cultural activities,
  •  rebel against the rise of a purely industrial and commercial ideology that would result in making culture and creation depend on the good will of powerful, often extra-European players in IT and telecommunications,
  •  request the maintenance and the extension to all states in the European Economic Area of proven mechanisms that have helped adapt to technological changes to keep the necessary balance between creators’ right, freedom of the public and access to culture,
  •  call the public, creators, artists and cultural producers to demand that the European Commission hears and takes into account their concerns and reflections.






    • What you need to know about private copy.

    What is private copy ?

    Peu de gens savent que, depuis 1985, lorsqu’ils achètent des supports vierges ou du matériel servant à copier de la musique et des images (tels que des cassettes, CD ou DVD vierges, des baladeurs numériques, des clés USB audiophiles, des enregistreurs numériques de salon), une petite partie du prix payé (la redevance pour copie privée) rémunère les auteurs, éditeurs, interprètes et producteurs des œuvres que ces supports permettent de copier.

    Ils sont encore plus rares à savoir qu’1/4 des sommes ainsi collectées alimente de nombreuses manifestations culturelles sur tout notre territoire. En 2010, l’apport de la copie privée aux actions culturelles et à l’aide à la création en France a été de près de 47 millions d’euros.

    Private copy: a pact between creators and the public

    Depuis plus de 20 ans, la copie privée assure un équilibre incontestable entre l’aspiration naturelle du public à accéder aux œuvres et la préservation nécessaire des droits et des rémunérations des créateurs. Ce dispositif souple repose sur la négociation et le consensus entre les représentants du public, les ayants droit et les industriels. Au cours des années, il a démontré sa capacité d’adaptation aux bouleversements technologiques de la révolution numérique.

    Au-delà de son importance dans la rémunération des créateurs (75% des sommes collectées leur sont directement reversées), on peut considérer que la copie privée établit un véritable pacte entre créateurs et public en faisant contribuer ce dernier au processus de création.

    En s’acquittant de la redevance, le public participe directement au financement d’un grand nombre de manifestations culturelles dans une grande diversité de genres et de répertoires. En effet, la copie privée finance aussi bien les grands et les petits festivals que des pièces de théâtre, des concerts, des spectacles de rue ou de marionnettes, des expositions d’art, la musique lyrique, le rap, les arts graphiques et plastiques, les créateurs multimédias, le court-métrage, le documentaire de création, grands reportages, l’écriture de films ou encore les arts du cirque – soit près de 5000 projets artistiques chaque année… pour tous les goûts, tous les âges, partout en France !

    A label to inform the public

    La création du "label copie privée" répond au désir des organisations signataires de rendre plus visible la copie privée menacée, et de rendre hommage à son rôle essentiel dans la diversité et le dynamisme culturels de notre pays.

    Désormais, chaque manifestation culturelle bénéficiant des ressources de la copie privée apposera ce label sur ses supports de communication, afin que le grand public prenne conscience que la rémunération pour copie privée est un outil essentiel de financement de la vie culturelle du pays, et que lui- même y participe.

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