AGCM

PRESS RELEASE

INTERNET: ANTITRUST IN THE GOVERNMENT AND PARLIAMENT, PROTECTION OF EDITORIAL CONTENT PLACED ON THE AGENDA

With timeframes suitable to the needs of the transformation in the industry, safeguarding the right to dissemination of knowledge and the potential of the Internet

The issue of the protection of editorial content on the Internet must be put on the agenda, with solutions that protect the public’s right to the dissemination of knowledge and at the same time not stifling the potential of the Internet. In a report sent to the Government and Parliament signed by President Giovanni Pitruzzella, this was requested by the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, stressing the key role of the Internet for economic growth and competitiveness. In the publishing industry, however, it is necessary to make sure that the extension of the means through which news can be found and read does not become a disincentive for the production and development of informational content at a socially desirable level. This means regulation must be put on the agenda, in appropriate timeframes with respect to the needs of the transformation of the industry, which provides tools to encourage forming on the Internet a virtuous cooperation between producers of editorial content and providers of the innovative services that reproduce and process the content protected by intellectual property rights. This regulation must be aimed at the efficient development of production activities of information content on the internet.  

Given the transnational dimension of the internet phenomenon, it is also necessary that Italian institutions adopt specific measures for the protection of online editorial content on appropriate international forums.

The report of the Antitrust Authority retraces the operations carried out recently in other Countries, starting with France where, thanks to an agreement with Google which will provide 60 million euros, publishers will be able to support the transition to digital printing and the related investments and innovations. The alternative solution consists of working out the regulation of intellectual property in order to introduce a form of remuneration for the publishers for activities which feed the information services on the network. Germany has been moving in this direction, and a similar bill, before the conclusion of the Google agreement with publishers, had been presented by the French Government. The Antitrust Authority considers this second model preferable because it allows the subjects engaged in the production and dissemination of informational content to benefit from the diffusion of such products on the internet with an obvious advantage in terms of efficiency in the allocation of resources. However, some precautions must be taken at the same time to protect the dissemination of knowledge: using an excessive tightening of systems for authorial protection, the costs linked to the remuneration of the publishers could affect end-users, with adverse effects on access to information and pluralism.

Rome, 24^th May 2013