The 2019 Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market: some progress, a few bad choices, and an overall failed ambition

After four years of fierce debate, the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market was finally adopted in April 2019. The legislative text aims at adapting copyright to the digital world, remedying some gaps and uncompensated uses of works and other subject matter, and enhancing some valuable uses through new or reaffirmed exceptions. Two provisions have been particularly contested. Article 15 creates a new IP right benefiting press publishers in their online news, in an attempt to force Google News and similar platforms to remunerate their use. Article 17 requires video sharing platforms, such as YouTube, to obtain a licence for any copyrighted content uploaded by their users or, by default, to filter such content when requested by rights owners. But the Directive has much more to offer, even though it might not succeed in securing the digital single market it promises.