Kennisland, Sept. 8, 2016 Link (CC-BY)
Today Kennisland launches CopyrightExceptions.eu, which collects information related to the national implementation of 22 exceptions and limitations to copyright in the 28 member states of the European Union. CopyrightExceptions.eu provides much needed clarity of the current state of implementations of the exceptions open to member states.
In the European Copyright framework the rights of users and public interest organisations are codified as exceptions and limitations to the exclusive rights of authors and other rightsholders. As such, they form one side of the balance between the rights of creators to exercise control of their works and the rights of the public to access culture and information. Two European Directives[1] have provided a list of 22 exceptions and limitations to copyright. Only two of which are mandatory for member states to implement and there is considerable leeway on how to implement many of them. This has created a situation where user rights across Europe are a patchwork. For users the task of understanding what they can or cannot do with copyright protected works across the different member states resembles a puzzle.
While over the years a number of studies has been undertaken to provide an insight into the state of implementation of these exceptions, up until now there has been no easily accessible, up-to-date information resource about user rights across the European Union. In the past few months at Kennisland we collected and combined the information we could find from multiple sources and had the result reviewed by national experts. Per exception and jurisdiction information was gathered about whether an exception is implemented, whether the exception requires remuneration, links to national acts and any other comments on the specifics of the implementation.
Kennisland believes[2] that a Digital Single Market should mean that all participants in that market have the same rights: the balance between the rights of creators and the rights of users should be the same in all member states. The current EU copyright framework is far from this, because it does not require the same harmonisation for user rights as it provides for creators and other rights holders.
CopyrightExceptions.eu provides an overview of the current state of implementations of the exceptions open to member states. With this tool we can now have an evidence-based policy discussion on ensuring that all participants in the European Digital Single Market have the same rights.
For more information contact Maarten Zeinstra.
Footnotes:
1. Exceptions & LimitationsThe EU Directive 2001/29/EC (InfoSoc Directive) provides a list of 21 exceptions and limitations to copyright (art. 5). The EU Directive 2012/28/EU EC (Orphan Works Directive) adds an exception that permits uses of works where the rightsholder can no longer be identified or located. This exception is mandatory for all member states.
2. Copyright modernisationRead more on what we already have achieved on copyright modernisation, and what we think needs to be done.
