Swiss Copyright Reform: More of the Same

Germany is not the only European country pushing copyright reforms. Both the World Intellectual Property Treaty and the European Copyright Directive have sparked numerous countries to update their copyright laws and implement changes in line with international obligations.

Swiss, not an EU member, is now in the process of transcending the WIPO provisions and adding some to its own taste. The reform brings anti-circumvention provisions, while rights societies plead loudly for an extension of the remuneration scheme to all media on which copyrighted materials can be stored. A parliament member has already called to make remuneration applicable to any medium that is capable of copying.

A bit puzzling is a subsection of the anti-circumvention provision (article 39(a)(4)), which states that the anti-circumvention prohibition cannot be enforced against those persons who make the evasion exclusively for a legally permitted use. I'm not sure to which extent private copying is allowed under Swiss law, but reading this provision broadly one could more than argue that it would constitute a (fair) private use. Something to look out for.

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Thru Heise Online (German)
Draft Swiss Copyright reform (PDF, German)