Green Paper on Copyright in the Knowledge Economy
i2010 Digital Libraries

eIFL response to the Green Paper on Copyright in the Knowledge Economy

In July 2008, the European Commission issued a Green Paper on Copyright in the Knowledge Economy. The Green Paper focussed on how research, science and educational materials are disseminated to the public and examined in particular, digitisation, orphan works and exceptions for libraries and archives, people with disabilities and teaching and research.

Read the Commission Green Paper here
Read the full eIFL response here
Download the eIFL response (pdf)

Summary of eIFL response

Introductory comments

• The EU copyright acquis impacts on eIFL members worldwide
• Libraries make a big contribution to the knowledge economy
• eIFL urges the Commission to address the relationship between contract law, copyright law and TPMs
• eIFL supports a balanced interpretation of the three-step test and expresses the view that the three-step test does not belong in national laws

General issues (questions 1-5)

• It is the responsibility of the legislator to maintain a balance between the rights of rightholders and the larger public interest from the drafting phase to implementation.
• Contractual arrangements can never replace copyright exceptions nor their implementation.
• The optional approach to exceptions and limitaitons has resulted in a failure to harmonise. Now the European copyright system is out of balance with harmonised rights and unharmonised exceptions.
• Mandatory exceptions would provide legal certainty for beneficiaries of exceptions and would facilitate cross-border activities and exchange of knowledge goods.
• Unless legal problems are resolved to enable the demand for large-scale European culture online to be met, policy-makers will be failing the citizens of Europe.

Exceptions for the benefit of libraries and archives (questions 6-12)

• eIFL explains why exceptions for libraries and archives should continue to evolve
• A helpful clarification would be that libraries must always be permitted to format shift and make as many copies as reasonably necessary under an exception for the purpose required
• An amendment for libraries to make digitised copyrighted content searchable online would enable libraries to provide added-value, high demand new services
  
• eIFL agrees that a further statutory instrument is required to deal with the problem of orphan works

Exceptions for the benefit of people with a disability (questions 13-18)

• eIFL supports the proposal by the World Blind Union for a WIPO Treaty for Blind, Visually Impaired and other Reading Disabled Persons  to provide a global, minimum standard for such exceptions and limitations and to enable the import and export of works in accessible formats
• eIFL calls on the Commission to support this proposal in the interest of fairness, equality and social inclusion
• eIFL agrees that the database Directive should have a specific exception in favour of people with a disability that would apply to both original and sui generis databases

Exception for the dissemination of works for teaching and research purposes (question 19)

• eIFL recommends that the scientific and research community should continue to develop the two complementary strategies suggested by the Budapest Open Access Initiative: self-archiving (depositing refereed journal articles in open electronic archives) and open access (OA) journals
• Licences used for OA works provide examples of successful licensing schemes enabling online use of works for teaching, research purposes and much more
• eIFL encourages the Commission to support the broad goals of open access and to encourage the adoption of open content licences to maximise the visibility and reuse of research outputs for the benefit of all

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i2010 Digital Libraries

European Commission Digital Libraries Initiative: policy and background documents (pdf)

i2010 Digital Libraries Online Consultation, January 2006

Questions for European Commission online consultation (pdf)

eIFL response to the European Commission consultation (pdf)

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