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The COMMUNIA Association recently published a report on researchers’ first-hand experiences using copyrighted materials to conduct valuable research – and shaped these perspectives into recommendations for copyright reform at the national, EU, and international level. 

Interviews with librarians, linguists, historians, computer scientists, and many other kinds of researchers were used to answer questions such as: (1) What kinds of materials are used in your research, (2) How are you using these materials, (3) What copyright related challenges do you face, (4) Are you involved in any cross-border research projects, and (5) What would make your research easier? Researchers generally agreed that in the absence of research exceptions, copyright law was hindering their ability to conduct research, be transparent with their data, and cooperate internationally. As such, COMMUNIA formulated 3 major recommendations:

1. At the national level, policy makers should permit research uses while allowing people to conduct research on all kinds of copyrighted materials and access resources remotely. Furthermore, researchers should be able to reproduce and share protected materials in order to facilitate research collaboration & transparency.

2. At the EU level, a level playing field must be set up so that researchers can have legal certainty amidst cross-border initiatives. One suggestion made by COMMUNIA is an EU-wide mandatory research exception to copyright and other exclusive rights for scientific research.

3. At the international level, policy makers should develop non-binding instruments on research uses to enable scientific research, and reach an international agreement on a set of minimum standards for research. This would ensure that the same kinds of research are permitted in all countries, and foster collaboration across borders.

COMMUNIA’s recommendations for a unified approach at national, EU, and international levels are generally expected to empower researchers by unshackling their work from copyright restraints – which would ultimately contribute to many different bodies of knowledge.