Category Regional Fora

JURI Vote Results: A Better Educational Exception with a Poisoned Pill Within

[Lisette Kalshoven] This morning the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (JURI) voted on the report on the proposed Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive... We are happy that the Commission’s flawed proposal for an exception that secures digital uses for education purposes has been fixed. Educators are given clarity about uses in digital environments, and the scope of the exception has been increased beyond educational establishments and their premises. There is also improved text that makes a contractual override of the exception impossible. Yet, the poison pill remains: the Commission’s proposal in article 4(2) to give priority to licenses over the exception was adopted.

104 Members of Parliament Agree: It’s Time to Dump the #LinkTax

In an incredible show of political support for a more reasonable copyright law, today 104 members of the European Parliament sent a letter to Rapporteur Voss asking him to delete the harmful press publishers right—Article 11. The signatories include MEPs from across the political spectrum. Signatories of the letter state that "... we believe that the introduction of a new European neighbouring right will have a nocent and injurious effect on citizens’ access to quality news and information."

Letter from 147 Organisations EU Member State Ambassadors Asking Council to Stop a Rushed EU Copyright Reform

We, the undersigned, are writing to you ahead of your COREPER discussion on the proposed Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market. We are deeply concerned that the text proposed by the Bulgarian Presidency in no way reflects a balanced compromise, whether on substance or from the perspective of the many legitimate concerns that have been raised. Instead, it represents a major threat to the freedoms of European citizens and businesses and promises to severely harm Europe’s openness, competitiveness, innovation, science, research and education.

Statement from EU Academics on Proposed Press Publishers’ Right

[Sign-on letter from 169 European Scholars] We, the undersigned 169 scholars (of whom 100 are full professors) working in the fields of intellectual property, internet law, human rights law and journalism studies at universities all over Europe write to oppose the proposed press publishers’ right. Article 11 of the proposal for a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, as it currently stands following negotiations in the EU Council and Parliament, is a bad piece of legislation.

Balancing Education and Copyright – Reflections after Conference on Copyright in Higher Education and Research

[Katarzyna Strycharz] MEP Axel Voss, rapporteur of the draft Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market, did not expect this dossier to be so controversial. And issues relating to the educational sector are not an exception. With these words, the Eurodeputy began his speech at last week’s high-level conference, “A better copyright for quality higher education and research in Europe and beyond”. The conference was organized jointly in Brussels by the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE), the European Federation of Education Employers (EFEE)and COMMUNIA Association.

Defend Text and Data Mining in Europe

[Electronic Information for Libraries] European legislators should defend Europe’s ability to generate opportunities using the power of data analysis, not drive researchers to other parts of the world that have more supportive legal frameworks. That’s the strong message in an open letter sent to members of the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee by 28 organizations, including EIFL, from the public and private sectors representing universities and research organizations, journalists, large technology companies and start-ups, as well as libraries.

This Is Not How You Make Copyright Reform! Report from the Copyright Action Days

[Communia Association] Last week more than a hundred of copyright reform activists got together in Brussels for the the European Copyright Action Days to make it clear to EU lawmakers that the copyright reform effort that is currently being discussed in the European Parliament and the European Council is not good enough. In a series of events organized by Copyright 4 Creativity, Create.Refresh, Communia and others, activists and other stakeholders discussed the shortcomings of the current reform proposal as well as ideas for a more future-proof overhaul of the outdated EU copyright system.

Communia Association: Our study “Educational Licences in Europe” is out now

[Teresa Nobre] The European Union is coming closer to approving a mandatory educational exception that may address some of the limitations copyright law places on everyday educational activities. However, the current proposal for a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market would allow licences that are easily available in the market to take precedence over the educational exception. Our new report “Educational Licences in Europe“, covering the analysis of 10 agreements in Finland, France, and the United Kingdom, shows that educational licences contain terms and conditions disadvantageous to schools:

European Educators Ask for a Better Copyright

[Electronic Information for Libraries] EIFL joins 53 organizations representing teachers, students, vocational trainers, researchers, scientists, librarians, archivists and museum professionals calling on European legislators for a copyright framework that properly facilitates modern, innovative education in Europe. The joint letter, sent to members of the European Parliament by COMMUNIA, an international association that advocates for copyright reform in education, highlights four key problems with the current proposal for a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (DSM).

Licenses: We Are Past Copyright

[Teresa Nobre] We have been arguing for quite sometime now that handing out the power to define the scope of users rights to right holders – in the form of license agreements that they can (almost unilateral) draft and frame as they wish – is bad. Really bad: licenses fragment the legal framework that mandatory exceptions try to harmonize; licenses contain abusive terms or impose obligations on users that are not foreseen in the laws; and licenses have a huge impact on national budgets. Unfortunately, this message has not come through to all, or not everyone understands what we are saying, or worse right holders have done a nice job in convincing lawmakers that’s the right way to go.

New Policy Paper on the 2017 Review of Public Sector Information Directive

[Communia Association] Today COMMUNIA published a policy paper on the 2017 review of the Directive on Public Sector Information (PSI Directive). The Directive first came into effect in 2003, and was amended in 2013 to clarify that 1) PSI should be presumed to be “reusable by default,” 2) museums, archives, and libraries were subject to the Directive provision, 3) acquisition fees were limited to marginal costs of reproduction, and 4) documents were to be made available for reuse using open standards and machine readable formats.