Telecom industry association Connect Europe has called for a limited revision of the EU’s Copyright in the Digital Single Market (DSM) Directive, arguing that new rules addressing generative artificial intelligence should protect rights holders while avoiding broader changes that could create legal uncertainty for AI developers and users.

The position comes as the European Commission considers a targeted update of the 2019 Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive as part of wider efforts to strengthen Europe’s cultural and creative sectors in response to the rapid growth of generative AI.

Connect Europe says the revision should focus specifically on issues raised by AI, particularly the remuneration of copyright holders, without reopening the wider copyright framework.

Presumption of use

A central issue in the debate is the proposed introduction of a “presumption of use” for copyright-protected works used by generative AI systems.

The concept, supported by the European Parliament in a report by MEP Axel Voss, would establish a rebuttable presumption that protected works have been used for AI training, inference or retrieval-augmented generation unless proven otherwise.

France is also preparing national legislation introducing a similar mechanism. According to French authorities, the proposal would create a specific evidentiary regime for copyright disputes without changing the legal criteria for determining infringement.

However, Connect Europe argues that any such measure should be adopted at EU level rather than through fragmented national legislation, particularly because many leading AI developers operate outside Europe.

Protecting existing licensing frameworks

While supporting stronger protection for rights holders, Connect Europe warns that any presumption of use must be carefully designed.

The association notes that AI training does not necessarily involve copyrighted material and that, where protected works are used, developers may already have obtained licences or other legal authorisations.

According to the organisation, any legislative revision should preserve existing copyright licensing frameworks and avoid undermining lawful uses of protected content.

Limiting obligations to AI model providers

Connect Europe also argues that any new obligations should apply only to providers of general-purpose AI models, rather than to the wider AI value chain.

The association says downstream actors—including system providers, deployers, integrators and operators—generally have no control over model architecture, training data or datasets and therefore should not bear responsibility for potential copyright issues arising from model training.

In support of this position, Connect Europe points to a November 2025 judgment by the Munich Regional Court in GEMA v. OpenAI, which found that responsibility for model architecture and training data lies with the model provider rather than downstream users of AI systems.

Balancing innovation and copyright

Connect Europe argues that extending copyright obligations to all companies using AI systems could hamper the development of Europe’s AI industry and undermine the bloc’s digital competitiveness.

The association therefore supports a targeted revision of the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive that strengthens protections for rights holders while aligning responsibility with the definitions of AI model providers established under the EU AI Act.

According to Connect Europe, limiting any new copyright obligations to model providers would help balance innovation with the protection of creative works while maintaining legal certainty for businesses deploying AI across Europe.