Parliament report on Green Paper on copyright in the Information Society
The European Parliament adopted a report on the Commission's "Green Paper on copyright and related rights in the Information Society" at its meeting in Strasbourg on 19 September 1996. The report calls for the protection of the rights of authors and neighbouring rights (such as those relating to lending by libraries) to form an essential condition for the development of the Information Society, regardless of the technologies involved. The author or holder of neighbouring rights must be able to authorize, and lay down conditions for, the use of their works. The Parliament, however, recognizes that there must be a balance between this protection and access to information. The need for harmonization of legislation in the field of intellectual property to avoid problems in the functioning of the Single Market is also stressed. The report calls for legislation in the area of copyright in broadcasting and in relation to the Internet to be developed to take account of the new technologies, particularly where information is received in a different country to that in which it was broadcast.