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Spanish senate approves Intellectual Property Law reform
2014-10-17 11:12:00| Telecompaper Headlines
(Telecompaper) The Spanish senate has given the green light to the reform of the country's Intellectual Property Law, which will now be sent to the parliament for final approval. The reform aims to curb internet piracy by putting in place speedier processes to shut down offending sites, including a one-stop-shop for processing complaints related to copyright infringements. One of the amendments introduced at the senate stage is the increase in the maximum fine payable for "very serious" copyright infringement from EUR 300,000 to EUR 600,000. The law also contains the so-called 'Google tax', a provision allowing news media companies in Spain to charge search engines such as Google and Yahoo for displaying copyrighted content. The reform is aimed squarely at news aggregators such as Google News, in that it permits the reproduction of "non-significant fragments" without prior authorization but requires the payment of "fair compensation" for doing so. However, on 18 September the Spanish Supreme Court submitted a request to the European Court of Justice for clarification as to whether this new compensation system complies with European legislation. Google is said to be considering shutting down its news service in Spain if the reform is finally passed.
Tags: property
law
spanish
reform
Category:Telecommunications