PRESS RELEASE - Neighbouring rights: representatives of journalists and nonjournalist authors call for respect of the law

5 years ago, the European DAMUN directive of April 17, 2019 established a neighboring right for press publishers, enabling them to obtain remuneration for the reuse of their publications by online public communication services. Within this framework, the European legislator explicitly provided for a share of the remuneration paid by Internet platforms to press publishers to go to journalists and other authors contributing to the content of press publications.

Since then, a dozen contracts have been signed between some of the French press and digital giants such as Google and Facebook. These agreements, reached after lengthy negotiations during which publishers often criticized the platforms' behavior and lack of transparency, have enabled the press to collect a new category of revenue. However, the journalists and other authors who create the content of press publications are still not receiving their fair share.

Now more than ever, therefore, is the time for fair, good-faith negotiations between publishers and authors ( journalists and non-journalists alike), in order to dethe share of this new royalty to be paid to each, which the legislator intended to be "appropriate and equitable" for authors.

These negotiations are very difficult and hard to achieve. Many publishers seem very reluctant to ensure equitable revenue sharing, seeking to impose a minimalist flat fee, avoiding to give clear eThis is at a time when they have denounced the platforms' refusal to accept the sharing of value that comes from putting press articles online.

We took part in the fight to obtain this new right in the European Parliament, and welcomed the creation of the law that introduced it. But six years on, it is clear that the law cannot achieve its aim. The publishers had promised to share the money as soon as they received it, but too many of them have not kept their word.

For these reasons, we welcome MP Laurent Esquenet-Goxes' bill to guarantee the effectiveness of neighboring rights for the press. We would also encourage it to besupplemented by symmetrical transparency obligations on publishers and press agencies towards authors. This transparency must be required from the outset of negotiations, and not just a posteriori, in the form of a rendering of accounts, and must be accompanied by sanctions in the event of non-compliance.

In the absence of satisfactory agreements within the current legal framework, the law should also be improved:

- by establishing a 50/50 split between authors and publishers, as is the case for legal radio licenses between music artists and record producers.

- and providing safeguards to prevent the artificial reduction of the neighbouring right retrocession base in agreements between publishers and internet platforms.

To ensure that negotiations continue smoothly, a strict legislative framework is required. Economic uncertainties, the dangers to information and the new challenges posed by artificial intelligence mean that we need to react quickly.

It's inconceivable that authors shouldn't receive a fair and equitable share of the wealth they've created - that's basic justice!

Paris, May 27, 2024