The European Commission has been very active in defending the applicability of Article 4 of the Copyright Directive to generative AI, and in inviting rights holders to use their right to opt-out to protect their works. The written question submitted at the end of December by several MEPs puts the ball back in its court: the Commission must now demonstrate that the system it has promoted is truly effective in dealing with AI platforms and the agreements signed with them by certain producers. The written question submitted on December 18, 2025, by seven MEPs from the Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) from different political groups brings one of the most sensitive issues in the relationship between generative AI and copyright back to the forefront of the European debate: the effectiveness of the « opt-out » provided for in the 2019 directive. The signatories, including France’s David Cormand (Greens/EFA), Laurence Farreng (Renew) and Emma Rafowicz (S&D) and Germany’s Sabine Verheyen (EPP), start from a specific observation: in France, all collective management organizations (CMOs) representing authors and performers…
