An Update on the Proposed EU Reform on Copyright.

The European Union is working on reforming the Copyright Directive. One of the major problems with the new proposed reform of the copyright The EU's main law is Article 13, which states that websites that accept user content (anything from videos to online comments) must have an "upload filter" that would block all protected content. copyright which are uploaded by users.

Under the proposal, companies would have to obtain a license for any copyrighted content. copyright that is uploaded to their site by their users. In other words, websites would be responsible for any content their users upload to the site.

Some argue that the filters would not be able to recognize "legal uses" of protected content. copyright , even if they were 100% effective in identifying whether or not a content is protected by copyright This category includes parodies and quotes that typically refer to legitimate content permitted by copyright law.

It is therefore disputed whether the use of filters is legal in itself or whether it violates the fundamental rights to privacy, freedom of expression, freedom of information, and the freedom to conduct a business.

Another article under discussion is the so-called "proposal link tax" in Article 11 of the Directive on the reform of the copyright , another idea that is not only apparently bad, but has also failed in countries like Spain and Germany, where it has already been attempted. Instead of inducing companies like Google or other publishers to pay for the link , or article excerpts and previews, these companies simply stopped linking to content from Germany and Spain.

Critics argue that a tax on link It would significantly reduce the number of hyperlinks we see on the web, meaning that websites would be much less linked to each other.

These two articles appear to be the most controversial at this stage and critics believe that the directive could have a negative impact on non-European companies operating in the EU.