Following its analysis of Draft Report on Copyright and Generative Artificial Intelligence – Opportunities and Challenges (here) and amendments put forward (here), CEPIC (the international Association of the visual media licensing industry) has issued key recommendations to ensure that Europe’s creative industries and AI developers can coexist in a fair and balanced ecosystem.
1️⃣ A fair eco-system must be established, allowing both rightsholders and AI producers to thrive
CEPIC supports measures that reinforce fairness and transparency between rightsholders and AI producers. The organisation endorses Amendment which recognises that voluntary compliance by GenAI providers is insufficient, and amendments which strengthens transparency obligations to re-establish balance within the AI ecosystem.
2️⃣ Contractual Freedom is key
Recognising that contractual freedom is central to creative industries, CEPIC supports amendments which affirm creators' rights to licence and enforce their works. CEPIC also supports amendments which reject interim remuneration schemes and reaffirm exclusive rights and transparency in licensing.
Conversely, CEPIC opposes amendments which advocate collective or interim remuneration systems for AI providers. CEPIC argues that compensation should instead derive from authorised licensing under existing copyright rules.
3️⃣ Any legal framework for GenAI must comply with the EU copyright acquis
CEPIC stresses that any legal framework governing generative AI must remain consistent with existing EU copyright law. It supports amendments which clarify that the AI Act does not alter the current copyright framework, and those which specify that AI training requires prior authorisation unless expressly permitted and that opt-outs must be respected through machine-readable standards.
4️⃣ A potential EUIPO Register should be interoperable and complementary
CEPIC favours the establishment of a voluntary, interoperable opt-out register under the EUIPO. This would ensure complementarity with existing rights reservation systems and prohibit implicit licences. However, CEPIC opposes amendments which would give the EUIPO a mediation or intermediary role that goes beyond CEPIC’s vision of a limited technical function.
5️⃣ AI-only outputs lack human authorship and must remain uncopyrightable under EU law
AI-only outputs, which lack human authorship, must remain uncopyrightable under EU law.
To maintain a fair and lawful balance between innovation and creativity by:
Details may be found in attached document.