Christian W.

Liedtke

November 27, 2013

NEW DAWN - NEW DAY IN GERMANY?

The 2013 coalition agreement from an intellectual property perspective

This morning, the conservative party of German chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), her conservative ally CSU and the social democrats (SPD) presented their coalition agreement (available in full at: http://www.cducsu.de/upload/koalitionsvertrag/). Provided that the SPD membership raties it, this agreement will form the basis of federal government until the next elections in 2017. Aside from the trench warfare of petty politics, this article provides a brief synopsis of what the coalition might hold in store for intellectual property owners, artists and innovators. !

Chancellor Merkel, Sigmar Gabriel (SPD), Horst Seehofer (CSU) Copyright: CDU/ Laurence Chaperon

Unlike the 2009 agreement between Merkel's CDU/ CSU and the liberal democrats (FDP), which contained a dedicated section on the importance of patents, trademarks and designs including a pledge to make rights accessible to small and medium businesses plus a section on copyrights, the 2013 document deals with IP on 1 1/2 pages under the heading "Copyright Reform". Nevertheless, the parties devoted more space to IP than

@cwliedtke

!1

Christian W. Liedtke

November 27, 2013

in their 2005 agreement, where the topic was relegated to all but a minor paragraph and a few scattered mentions.! On the merits, the most important resolution might be to increase liability of internet service providers. In this context, the parties also consented to foster respective European and international e"orts and specically state an aim to deprive service providers from advertising revenue where their business is based on infringement. ! Furthermore, the parties promise to strengthen enforcement abilities of collecting societies, to organize government supervision of collecting societies and compensation issues with respect to private copies more e"ectively. Without giving specics it is said that the position of authors shall be improved through a reform of provisions collectively known as "Urhebervertragsrecht". ! Also included are tidbits concerning implicit terms of use, portability of digital content and Open Access. While the coalition plans to push for reduced VAT rates for e-books, e-papers and the like, it stands by the "book price monopoly" and seeks to extend it to e-books.! Moreover, the parties intend to create a copyright limitation for education and science. This is

"Kind Words May Not Prove to be as Sweet as Honey"

interesting in the context of what is already included in Section VI of the German Copyright Act (UrhG), particularly Art. 46. ! Last but not least, the parties wish to explore options to liberalize the licensing of digital content by libraries. ! In conclusion, kind words may not prove to be

!
Christian W. Liedtke is an international intellectual property consultant based in Newport Beach (CA), New York and Dsseldorf, Germany. He can be reached at +1-949-478-5429 info@liedtke.de and @cwliedtke

as sweet as honey. The social democrats especially, have exhibited a lack of understanding for the pivotal importance of intellectual property. For example during the legislative process regarding the ancillary copyright for news publishers. It thus remains to be seen whether the coalition partners mean business or resort to lip service.

@cwliedtke

!2