Local business owners sent strong support for the changes to two articles in the Accountability that modify intellectual property rights and assured that “Uruguay has always been respectful” of the situation, by rejecting the platform’s questions Spotify.
Through a statement, a dozen associations and unions expressed a “strong rejection” against what they considered “a campaign to discredit the Audiovisual Producers Rights Management Entity (Egeda) and his local partners against our country.”
In turn, they questioned “the undue pressure exerted against the Parliament national and its legislators”, by pointing out Spotify’s threats to leave the country if there are no modifications to the articles of the Accountability what the senator proposed Jorge Gandini (National Party) and they were approved in the last hours.
The chambers, which represent thousands of companies, stated that “Uruguay has always been respectful of intellectual property rights” and they highlighted that the country has “modern and guaranteeing legislation for holders of copyright and related rights”, something that they consider grants “wide prestige and recognition at an international level.”
“It is false that the proposal repeals rights,” say the businessmen
On the other hand, the businessmen indicated in the statement that they accused the multinational of launching “grievances and falsehoods,” with the aim of “continuing to collect large sums for rights that are not recognized in our legislation.”
To do this, they indicated, they resort to “harassment, threats and constant abuses against thousands of small and medium-sized national merchants.”
In short, they described as “false” that the initiative, approved by the Senate, repeal or “expropriate” rights recognized by law to audiovisual producers. “No right recognized by the copyright law is affected by this initiative,” they noted, expressing “full support for the text of the Gandini.”
Spotify’s claim and the performers’ response
From Spotify They considered that the modifications to the articles in the Accountability They will involve an additional payment to what the company already provides, something that “would severely affect the ability to invest and provide services at reasonable prices to consumers.”
In this regard, they pointed out that, despite the great popularity of the platform, they have “a historically low margin” and highlighted that they played “a fundamental role in reversing the decline of the music industry, which was plagued by piracy.”
For its part, the Uruguayan Society of Performing Artists (Sudei) publicly expressed his support for the modifications, considering that it is “strict justice” to recognize “the right of performers to receive remuneration for the reproduction of their works on digital platforms.”
Source: Ambito
