Stephen Wyber
The EU acquis, as it affects research libraries, is characterised by both overlaps and gaps, which exist alongside forces and habits endemic to these institutions. While libraries have always been the place where the rubber hits the road – where the commands and constraints of different laws and policies need to be translated into a single body of practice – this contact is far bumpier today than it was before. This blog explores these tensions, as well as the additional complexity introduced by the circumstances in which libraries operate.
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Teresa Nobre
The European educational, research and cultural heritage institutions face significant barriers to transition their practices into the digital environment. Despite playing a fundamental role in supporting the exercise of rights such as education, scientific freedom, and participation in cultural life, these institutions are peripheral to the EU’s digital legislative agenda. The proposal for a Digital Knowledge Act is a response to this regulatory blind spot.
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Tatiana-Eleni Synodinou, Giorgos Vrakas
Text and Data Mining (TDM) has become indispensable across disciplines: from medicine, where mining scientific articles can reveal patterns for new drug discoveries, to the humanities, where algorithms explore centuries of literature at once. The EU legislator embedded mandatory TDM exceptions into its Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive. Chief requirement is that TDM can only be carried out on works to which researchers have “lawful access”. The concept of lawfulness, however, is anything but clear under EU copyright law.
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Ula Furgał
The EU adopted the press publishers’ right to strengthen the bargaining position of press publishers towards online intermediaries. As an intellectual property right, it gives publishers control over information flows and, by its nature, interferes with freedom of expression. Researchers, however, have an interest in being able to share and reflect upon matters of public interest brought forward by the press in online fora. As such, this post considers the press publishers’ right’s potential to curtail European researchers’ activities.
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Christophe Geiger, Bernd Justin Jütte
Copyright, which provides the exclusive rights that allow authors to control the use of their works, is based on a societal bargain that grants rights in exchange for purpose-bound access to the works protected. In the EU, this contract has become imbalanced. Copyright, in order to honor its social contract, must empower users and follow-on creators to enforce the limited rights they have by providing them with efficient enforcement tools.
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Thomas Margoni
The CJEU in the VOB case has offered ample support for the need to include e-lending in the scope of the RLD. This interpretation not only recognises the public interest of society at large in accessing knowledge necessary for cultural, technological and economic development, but also supports authors who, thanks to the derogation of Art. 6 RLD, are entitled to specific remuneration. However, the Court missed the techno-regulatory turn in this story.
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Katharina de la Durantaye
EU copyright law’s teaching exceptions do not deserve a perfect grade. The law unduly privileges classical teaching practices by traditional educational institutions over more informal ways of teaching, it grants too much power to publishers, and it allows for differences in transposition, which hinder cross-border teaching projects and negatively impact the common market. Each of these elements should change.
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Giulia Dore
Open Access is seen as a terrific opportunity for researchers to spread knowledge at unprecedented speed and increase society’s wider participation in cultural life. In contrast, traditional publishing models, with their rigid market dynamics, are aimed at rewarding rightsholders but feature visible contractual asymmetries that put researchers’ freedoms at stake, an imbalance that Second Publication Rights aim to redress.
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Martin Senftleben
Considering the rapid evolution of digital technology and changing research approaches, it is doubtful whether the current EU copyright acquis offers sufficient support for research that requires access to protected knowledge resources. To this day, EU copyright law misses a general research clause that would allow researchers to do their job in the current information society and contribute to the improvement of societal conditions – regardless of constantly changing technologies and access routes to knowledge resources.
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Jonathan Renaux
In her State of the Union speech, Ursula von der Leyen outlined several key priorities, among which one unmistakably stood out as a core objective: strengthening the EU Single Market. And there it was again – resurfacing with growing political weight – the call for a “fifth Freedom”: the free movement of knowledge and innovation. This contribution examines the legal implications that a new Freedom of movement could have on the right to access knowledge in the fields of research and education.
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Bernd Justin Jütte
The EU is currently experiencing epochal shifts. Key to addressing these challenges is harnessing the innovation potential of the ‘old continent’ by rediscovering the intellectual roots of an open, free, and progressive society. With the advent of digitisation, copyright law has generated chilling effects on innovation and creativity. Removing them is essential for exploiting Europe’s potential for creativity and innovation.
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Christophe Geiger, Damian Boeselager
The digital revolution has multiplied the potential for research and learning, which are preconditions for innovation and development. Nonetheless, the legal framework in the EU governing access and use of knowledge dates back to the analogue age. For this purpose, research and education must be prioritised, and the well-known regulatory hurdles urgently need ambitious reform.
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