The EU Commission is stepping up the fight against illegal content with Internet platforms
Discussions about copyright rules for the digital age are rising. In the last quarter of 2017, the European Commission (“EC”) has been pretty busy to step up the fight against online piracy and counterfeiting; but online platforms also have a role to play. Indeed, hundreds of thousands of movies, TV shows, software and books are still available to download for free. In this article, we highlight some of the new proposals aiming at protecting copyright and ensuring that illegal content once taken down does not (too quickly) simply reappear. How does the Commission plan to step up the fight against counterfeiting and piracy? Apart from the copyright proposal reform adopted in September 2016, the EC recently published a number of important IP documents: - A Communication paper on “ Tackling Illegal Content Online - Towards an enhanced responsibility of online platforms ”; - A Communication paper giving “ Guidance on certain aspects of Direc