All major European authors’ organisations have supported the new legislation, which has been fiercely opposed by tech giants like Google and Amazon, who will be forced to pay greater compensation to authors for the use of their work.

The changes include two much debated articles. Article 11 covers the rights of publishers to receive a fee when content platforms link to their stories ("neighbouring rights"). Under Article 13 content distributors would be held liable for copyright infringement committed on their platforms.

The Federation of European Film Directors (FERA), the Federation of Screenwriters in Europe (FSE) and the Society of Audiovisual Authors (SAA) have all come out squarely in favour of the new Copyright Directive.

FERA, FSE and SAA are particularly pleased with the adoption of significant improvements to provisions respecting fair remuneration in contracts of authors and performers, as well as the confirmation of the introduction of a very much needed new article establishing a principle of fair and proportionate remuneration for authors from the exploitation of their works, including online.

Click HERE for more information and to read the FERA, FSE and SAA press releases on their positions.