The Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun and the Minister of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 20330, Pablo Bustinduy, held a press conference after the Council of Ministers meeting. The conference was captured by Alberto Ortega of Europa Press.
The Council of Ministers has given its approval for the draft Law that proposes the creation of the Copyright Office. This autonomous entity will provide enhanced supervision and regulate the management entities of the sector. It will also formulate new regulations concerning Artificial Intelligence.
Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun explained the role of the new office during a press conference held after the Council of Ministers meeting. He emphasized that the establishment of this office will significantly boost Spain’s efforts in defending intellectual property.
The Council of Ministers has resolved to expedite the parliamentary processing of the bill using the emergency procedure. This move will speed up the approval process and ensure the bill takes effect as soon as possible. Once the Law is approved, the organization’s statutes may be approved during the year 2024.
The minister acknowledged that Copyright and intellectual property are vital to the cultural world, contributing approximately 3.2% to Spain’s GDP. Up to now, Spain has a licensing and copyright transfer system for fair distribution of collections, which are managed by entities supervised by the Ministry.
The new Office will substantially scale up this supervision and provide an autonomous entity to manage distribution. This is crucial because the challenges of defending copyright and intellectual property in the new digital world and artificial intelligence have become more complex.
“There is a growing need for supervision activity, hence the necessity to establish this autonomous body. This will elevate us to the level of neighboring countries that already have similar structures,” said the minister. Urtasun added that the office will offer a more efficient and agile public service to manage intellectual property and international relations regulations.
Furthermore, he stressed that there will be greater supervision and control of the intellectual property rights management entities themselves and the independent management operators. The office will also address the registration of intellectual property, conflict resolution or arbitration, as well as combating piracy.
Finally, Urtasun mentioned the growing concern among creators regarding artificial intelligence. This is due to the technology’s use of author’s works without any respect for copyright and intellectual property. He said, “This office will also help us to work better on measures and regulations to defend copyright in the framework of artificial intelligence. Today we take an important leap with a strong organization to continue defending copyright,” concluded Urtasun.
STREAMING AND PIRACY
The Ministry of Culture reiterated the constant expansion in recent years of activities related to intellectual property. This is due to several reasons including the internet and social networks becoming the main channels of public communication and reproduction of works and benefits protected by copyright and related rights.
“In this context, streaming platforms have revolutionized the consumption of audiovisual and musical content protected by copyright and related rights, creating new environments for the dissemination of cultural creations that require constant adaptation of legislation,” they highlighted.
It was also noted that there have been changes in the forms of infringement of intellectual property rights, leading to new piracy strategies. These strategies “place authors, creators and other rights holders in a position of greater vulnerability.”
