The Government has signed a statutory instrument transposing the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market ((EU) 2019/790) (Directive) into Irish law.
The Directive, which has given rise to extensive debate amongst stakeholders, aims to update copyright legislation for the digital age and to strengthen the rights of copyright owners when their content is used online. The Directive was enacted in April 2019 and EU member states were given until 7 June 2021 to transpose the Directive into their respective national laws. Ireland was one of 23 member states that did not meet that deadline, and following this new legislation now becomes the seventh to transpose the Directive into national law.
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar considers that the new law will be part of a broader discussion on the future of media and will be important to ensure that “the rights of our creators, writers, journalists and performers are upheld when it comes to their work being shared online“.
We are reviewing the detail of the statutory instrument and will publish further updates in the coming days. In the meantime, please contact David Kirton, Colette Brady, Leo Moore or your usual William Fry contact for further advice or insight.
Contributed by Jordie Sattar
