Article 17 of the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market
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Introduction
The recent EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market has brought about adverse changes with regard to the operations of Online Content-Sharing Service Providers. They are required to obtain authorization for copyrighted works by concluding license agreements when doing acts of communication to the public. Online Content-Sharing Service Providers can be held liable for unauthorized works in their sites unless the exceptions provided under Article 17 are met which include employing best efforts to obtain authorization or to ensure that such works will not be available in the future. Under the E-Commerce Directive Article 14 and 15 Information Society Service Providers have a safe harbor for merely acting as hosting sites and caching data or storing data for Internet Service Providers that meet the conditions under those sections and states cannot impose a general obligation on the information society service providers to monitor the kind of information that they transmit or store. Article 17 of the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market thus imposes a general monitoring obligation on Online Content-Sharing Service Providers, a direct contradiction to the provisions of the E-Commerce Directive. Thus, how far can the provisions of Article 17 are implemented without disrespecting Article 15?
The guiding legal questions to be addressed include;
1. What are the new obligations for Online Content-Sharing Service Providers under the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market?
2. What is the provision in the E-Commerce Directive about Information Society Service Providers safe harbor?
3. How has the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market imposed a general monitoring obligation on Online Content-Sharing Service Providers?
4. To what extent can the provisions of the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market be implemented without imposing a general monitoring obligation on Online Content-Sharing Service Providers?
