Today over 350 media outlets from all over Poland, together with the Chamber of Press Publishers, the Association of Journalists and Publishers Repropol, the Association of Employers of Digital Publishers, the Association of Local Newspapers and the Association of Local Media appeal to politicians to introduce provisions that strengthen publishers in negotiations with big tech, Google, Meta or Microsoft regarding renumeration for the content they use.
The current version of the Act must be changed to ensure the economic viability of the media in the face of dominant global gatekeeping platforms. This is not just a copyright issues but a media freedom issue.
At the end of June, the Sejm rejected the amendments proposed by publishers and journalists to support negotiations with mediation. The implementation of the Act on Copyright and Related Rights has now been submitted to the Senate, which is meeting on this issue on 10 July. The protest is visible in editorial publications, news programs, interviews and in social media of the most important media in Poland appealing for support.
Furthermore the proposed Act fails to include important safeguards for copyright owners under the TDM exception. The EU DSM copyright directive requires that TDM users must have lawful access to content they want to use for text and data mining - but the Polish Implementing Act has ignored this, leaving all publishers' content vulnerable to unauthorised scraping and copying, for commercial gain of the users, including for the training of AI.
Polish publishers, editors and journalists say that the reluctance of the rulers to address their concerns is a sign of irresponsibility and short-sightedness. We join them in their appeal to the authorities, to deputies and senators of all political opinions, to listen to their arguments and improve the harmful law.
Find below the Press Release from the Polish Associations
