Business | Internet regulation in Europe

A controversial new copyright law moves a step closer to approval

The new rules are another example of the EU’s assertiveness on tech

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN has been dead for nearly 200 years. The copyright on his music is long expired. But when Ulrich Kaiser, an academic at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, recently tried to upload a public-domain recording of his Fifth Symphony to YouTube, he was thwarted by Content ID, an automated copyright filter. Mr Kaiser tried again with recordings of music by Schubert, Puccini and Wagner. Despite being in the public domain, all were flagged for copyright violations by the algorithm.

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Screen grab”

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