In addition to Roel_v's very cogent dismantling of the article, I'd like to point out a separate issue: European copyright law is generally based on a different premise than American copyright law. European copyright law is generally based on the moral right of an author to control access to his original work. If you look at the history of copyright, the U.S. has in an number of cases expanded copyright domestically to match broader protections under international treaties reflecting European laws.
Yes, funny that no-one ever seems to "harmonise" away from what well connected lobbyists want, it's always in the same direction (more copyright in this particular case).
"Well-connected lobbyists" is a boogeyman. Governments have been harmonizing towards more copyright because:
1) It's easy to point to the media industry and whisper the word "jobs." There is no other word, not even "checkbook," that gets a politician to perk up his ears more quickly.
2) We're a society that understands and values property. The idea that someone should have control over their original works, even total control, is an easy sell to a society that defines even a teenager cutting across a yard as illegal trespass. Freedom to share ideas is something we also value, but: a) we associate that much more closely with political speech than creative works;[1] and b) such freedom is a newer, less fundamental idea to us than property.
A great example is moral rights in creative works. There are no "well-connected" art-industry lobbyists that got European legislatures to recognize moral rights to artistic works. It was purely the result of it being an easy sell that artists had inherent rights over their creative works, even extending to a certain ability to control the use of those works post-sale.
[1] And even to the extent we associate it with creative works, we associate it with the right of content creators to publish socially uncomfortable material (pornography, etc), rather than any "right" of content consumers to share other peoples' original content.
