Posted on May 23, 2023 by cdcn-square-eu
The Coalition for Creativity (C4C) is concerned about the developments around Article 17 in the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA). This provision, initially introduced as an unwarranted media privilege by the European Commission in the EMFA, is turning into a fully-fledged media exemption.
Our take on what policymakers should do: reject...
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Posted on May 2, 2023 by cdcn-square-eu
At the end of February 2023, the European Commission launched a highly anticipated exploratory public consultation on “the future of the electronic communications sector and its infrastructure” that notably looks into the fair share / network fees debate – deadline: 19 May, midnight Brussels time (CEST).
C4C’s response to this consultation can...
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Posted on February 9, 2023 by cdcn-square-eu
Along with over 40 organisations, C4C co-signed an open letter on the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) addressed to the European Parliament.
These signatories call on the Members of the European Parliament involved in the debate to ensure that the EMFA will fulfill its potential and become a strong regulation establishing...
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Posted on January 30, 2023 by cdcn-square-eu
In this position paper, C4C expresses its believe that Articles 17 and 18 of the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) cannot be salvaged or improved and should hence be deleted for the following reasons:
The DSA and the P2B Regulation suffice and there is no need for a specific media contentmoderation...
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Posted on September 16, 2022 by cdcn-square-eu
Following the presentation of the European Media Freedom Act by the European Commission on 13 September, the Coalition for Creativity (C4C) would like to express its concerns about a ‘media exemption’ popping-up again and the lack of proper transparency rules for the media industry.
Come-Back of the ‘Media Exemption’ (Article 17)
We...
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Posted on September 7, 2022 by cdcn-square-eu
On 2 September, C4C joined over 20 organisations in opposing the revised US Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) and warning the US Congress against adopting this Act. The battles fought over issues such as the ‘link tax’ during the negotiations on the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital...
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Posted on April 26, 2022 by cdcn-square-eu
Brussels, BELGIUM – Today, 26 April, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued its highly anticipated ruling (CJEU press release – judgement) in the case initiated in 2019 by the Polish government seeking the annulment of Article 17(4)(b) and (4)(c) of the Directive on Copyright in the...
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Posted on April 23, 2022 by cdcn-square-eu
Following the political agreement reached between the EU institutions during the 5th and final trilogue negotiations on the Digital Services Act (DSA) on 22-23 April, the Coalition for Creativity (C4C) would like to express its initial disappointment about potential pitfalls in this regulation.
Ms Caroline De Cock, C4C Coordinator, said:
“The DSA...
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Posted on April 19, 2022 by cdcn-square-eu
On 19 April, Eva Simon, senior advocacy officer at the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties), and Caroline De Cock, C4C Coordinator, co-wrote an op-ed published on EURACTIV on the problems surrounding filtering ahead of the crucial and determining 5th trilogue on the Digital Services Act (DSA) on 22 April...
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Posted on March 14, 2022 by cdcn-square-eu
In March 2022, C4C contributed to the International treaty examination of the UK-NZ Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
Our key message: Extending copyright protection with 20 years, going from life plus 50 years to life plus 70 years, blatantly neglects evidence demonstrating the lasting and irreversible negative direct and indirect effects of...
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Posted on February 10, 2022 by cdcn-square-eu
In February 2022, C4C responded to the the consultation by the U.S. Copyright Office on technical measures to identify or protect copyrighted works online.
Our overall recommendation is simple: the uptake of technical measures to identify or protect copyrighted works online should not be mandated, nor should filtering become the de...
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Posted on July 15, 2021 by cdcn-square-eu
Brussels, BELGIUM – Today, 15 July 2021, Advocate General (AG) Saugmandsgaard Øe from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered his Opinion in the case initiated in 2019 by the Polish government seeking the annulment of Article 17(4)(b) and (4)(c) of the Directive on Copyright in the...
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Posted on June 22, 2021 by cdcn-square-eu
Brussels, BELGIUM – Today, 22 June 2021, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued its highly anticipated ruling (CJEU press release) in the joint cases revolving around YouTube and Uploaded (Frank Peterson v Google / Elsevier v Cyando – C-682/18 – C-683/18).
The following statement can be attributed...
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Posted on June 4, 2021 by cdcn-square-eu
Brussels, BELGIUM – Today, 4 June the European Commission adopted its long-awaited guidance to support the Member States in their adoption of Article 17 of the Copyright Directive. The outcome flows out of six stakeholder dialogues held before the pandemic hit and a (restricted) consultation effort mid-2020 on the Commission’s initial...
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Posted on March 15, 2021 by cdcn-square-eu
The Canadian Government is consulting – extended deadline: 31 March 2021, 11:59 pm local time – on implementing its commitment under the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) to extend its general copyright protection term from 50 to 70 years after the life of the author by the end of 2022.
Professor Michael Geist...
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Posted on March 9, 2021 by cdcn-square-eu
Brussels, BELGIUM – Today, 9 March 2021, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued after almost two years its long awaited ruling in the VG Bild-Kunst case (C-392/19). The judgement is obviously limited to the case at hand and constrained by the questions put forward in the...
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Posted on September 18, 2018 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C is proud to announce that the SHARE Foundation signed on to our Declaration which promotes a copyright framework that fosters creativity, innovation, education, competitiveness and access to culture.
The SHARE Foundation is a non-profit organization representing online media, citizen journalists and bloggers, human rights defenders, members of the internet community and all other...
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Posted on August 29, 2018 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C is proud to announce that SPARC Europe, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, signed on to our Declaration which promotes a copyright framework that fosters creativity, innovation, education, competitiveness and access to culture.
SPARC Europe, founded in 2004, is a non-profit, member organisation comprised among others of a diverse body...
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Posted on June 8, 2017 by cdcn-square-eu
Today, 8 June, the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) Committee voted on Copyright in the Digital Single Market [2016/0280(COD)]. IMCO was the 1st Committee to vote on the file, and is setting the direction for the other votes in the next weeks in the Culture and Education (CULT – 21 June), Civil Liberties,...
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Posted on June 2, 2017 by cdcn-square-eu
Following the CULT and IMCO Opinions (see our blog posts respectively here and here) and the Report by the lead Committee of the EP on this matter, namely the Legal Affairs (JURI) Committee (see our blog post here), the last Opinion of the EP has now been published, namely the one...
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Posted on May 29, 2017 by cdcn-square-eu
Over 60 civil society & trade associations urge European lawmakers to put the EU copyright reform back on track
On 29 May 2017, over 60 civil society and trade associations – representing publishers, journalists, libraries, scientific and research institutions, consumers, digital rights groups, start-ups, technology businesses, educational institutions and creator representatives – sent this open...
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Posted on March 29, 2017 by cdcn-square-eu
Copy explains the so-called ‘value gap’. The issue at stake is the liability of online platforms for content uploaded by their users that could infringe copyright, packaged under the label ‘sharing of value’. Under the disguise of a copyright review, the European Commission sneaked in a proposal imposing obligations for...
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Posted on March 20, 2017 by cdcn-square-eu
As mentioned in our previous blog posts on the CULT and IMCO Opinions (see respectively here and here), the adoption of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (the copyright review) requires several European Parliament (EP) Committees to draft Opinions that will then need to be ‘taken into...
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Posted on February 24, 2017 by cdcn-square-eu
As mentioned in our previous blog post on the CULT Opinion, the adoption of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (the copyright review) requires several European Parliament (EP) Committees to draft Opinions that will then need to be ‘taken into account’ in the Report by the lead...
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Posted on February 13, 2017 by cdcn-square-eu
In the process of the adoption of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (the copyright review), several European Parliament (EP) Committees will draft Opinions that will then need to be ‘taken into account’ in the Report by the lead Committee of the EP on this matter, namely...
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Posted on January 20, 2017 by cdcn-square-eu
The theme of today’s #Copyrightweek is ‘Copyright and Free Speech’. The idea is to tell policy makers that freedom of speech is fundamental to democratic systems and that copyright should promote, not restrict or suppress, free speech.
Obvious, no?
Well, actually, not obvious at all, if you look at the copyright creep...
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Posted on January 18, 2017 by cdcn-square-eu
The theme of today’s #Copyrightweek is ‘Transparency and Representation’. The idea is to tell policy makers that copyright policy must be set through a participatory, democratic, and transparent process. It should not be decided through back room deals, secret international agreements, or unilateral attempts to apply national laws extraterritorially.
Whilst this...
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Posted on September 28, 2016 by cdcn-square-eu
For the legal geeks among us, it is now old news that the European Commission, after promising to modernise copyright, issued a rather unhinged and disappointing copyright review proposal aimed at creating what it claims to be a ‘well-functioning marketplace’.
Neighbouring rights aka ancillary copyright for media snippets, robocopyright type content...
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Posted on September 14, 2016 by cdcn-square-eu
The European Commission promised to modernise copyright, but instead of creating a well-functioning legal framework addressing the concerns of creators and end-users it proposes to protect old business models by creating what it claims to be a ‘well-functioning marketplace’. To do so, the EC creates ‘RoboCopyright’, compelling intermediaries hosting user-uploaded...
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Posted on August 30, 2016 by cdcn-square-eu
Statewatch released [PDF] a version of the European Commission’s (EC) Impact Assessment on the copyright reform. Our initial reaction on it is available here.
...
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Posted on August 26, 2016 by cdcn-square-eu
Statewatch released [PDF] a version of the European Commission’s (EC) Impact Assessment on the copyright reform. Our initial reaction on it is available here. In the infographic below we look at the EC’s (lack of) assessment of ancillary copyright – see Copy explaining the beef with his cousin ‘Ancy’ here....
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Posted on August 25, 2016 by cdcn-square-eu
The leaked EC’s Impact Assessment can be found here [PDF], and our initial reaction on it is available here.
...
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Posted on August 25, 2016 by cdcn-square-eu
Remember when last year C4C and several of its signatories co-signed two open letters, one addressed to the European Commission and the other to the European Parliament, in order to share our concerns regarding the European Commission’s current approach on copyright matters in its public consultations? It wasn’t even so...
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Posted on July 1, 2016 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C is proud to announce that the Dutch association of public libraries (VOB – ‘Vereniging van Openbare Bibliotheken’), represents about 170 member organisations in the Netherlands ranging from public libraries, provincial support organisations to library suppliers, signed on to our Declaration which promotes a copyright framework that fosters creativity, innovation,...
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Posted on June 17, 2016 by cdcn-square-eu
Thank you!
We are pleased to inform you that after closing the YouCanFixCopyright Answering Tool on 14 June, we were able to transfer 2.819 responses on the public consultation on ancillary copyright and freedom of panorama to the European Commission. Moreover, our copyright educational videos on ancillary copyright and freedom of panorama...
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Posted on April 6, 2016 by cdcn-square-eu
The copyright debate often feels like a hurdle race, and its seems that the current race to the presentation of the European Commission’s (EC) copyright reform proposal has been extended along the way from the 110 meters hurdles to the 400 one. While we were expecting to see the finish...
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Posted on March 8, 2016 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C is proud to announce that the Network of European Museum Organisations (NEMO) signed on to our Declaration which promotes a copyright framework that fosters creativity, innovation, education, competitiveness and access to culture.
NEMO was founded in 1992 as an independent network of national museum organisations representing the museum community of...
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Posted on January 18, 2016 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C is proud to announce that Creative Commons signed on to our Declaration which promotes a copyright framework that fosters creativity, innovation, education, competitiveness and access to culture.
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization at the center of a high-profile, international movement to promote sharing of creativity and knowledge. It provides...
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Posted on December 9, 2015 by cdcn-square-eu
BRUSSELS, 9 DECEMBER 2015 – “If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team European Commission”. The European Commission (EC) is coming to our rescue with a plan for a “modern, more European copyright framework”.
They took...
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Posted on December 4, 2015 by cdcn-square-eu
On 24 September, the European Commission launched its all-encompassing and not very clearly defined public consultation on online platforms (the title is actually a lot longer but we are trying to spare you some pain), covering a lot of issues that are not copyright related.
Although it may not jump at...
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Posted on November 24, 2015 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C and several of its signatories co-signed two open letters, one addressed to the European Commission and the other to the European Parliament, in order to share our concerns regarding the European Commission’s current approach on copyright matters in its public consultations.
The signatories of this open letter urge the European...
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Posted on May 22, 2015 by cdcn-square-eu
The International Music Managers Forum (IMMF), a C4C signatory, addressed an open letter to the European Commission and European Parliament on 21 May on the record label and music publisher deals in the digital market. This letter is a reaction to the reporting by The Verge on a 2011 agreement...
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Posted on May 12, 2015 by cdcn-square-eu
On 6 May, just a few hours away of the launch of the European Commission’s Digital Single Market Strategy, Copyright 4 Creativity (C4C) gathered representatives of the EU Institutions at a breakfast event in the European Parliament to explore if licencing is the miracle solution in the copyright debate, as...
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Posted on May 6, 2015 by cdcn-square-eu
BRUSSELS, 6 MAY 2015 – First, there was the long awaited coming of Princess Charlotte and now, the European Commission finally gives birth to its often leaked ‘Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe’. What an exciting month of May!
Looking at the copyright elements in this Communication, Copyright 4 Creativity has...
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Posted on April 27, 2015 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C is proud to welcome two new signatories, putting the total number of declaration supporters at 39 – representing hundreds of organisations worldwide. In April, the Flemish Partnership Copyright & Society (SA&S – Samenwerkingsverband Auteursrecht en Samenleving) and OpenForum Europe (OFE) signed on to our mission of sensible copyright policy...
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Posted on February 16, 2015 by cdcn-square-eu
Absurd, not of this time, incomprehensible. This is what the current copyright framework in Europe feels like. It is time to make it fit-for-purpose in the 21st Century.
Have you ever tried to explain copyright to a teenager? I did. It doesn’t make any sense to them. Funnily, the idea of...
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Posted on February 16, 2015 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C is proud to welcome a new signatory, putting the total number of declaration supporters at 37 – representing hundreds of organisations worldwide. In February the Institute of Digital Technologies of the Mykolas Romeris University (MRU) signed on to our mission of sensible copyright policy in service of creativity, innovation, education, competitiveness and access...
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Posted on January 27, 2015 by cdcn-square-eu
On 26 January, the think tank CEPS (the Center for European Policy Studies) organised a panel debate under the rather provocative heading ‘Should we tax the Internet?’ (although, if you read speeches and interviews of some politicians, the question is probably not so provocative in some circles).
Presentations were made by...
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Posted on January 27, 2015 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C is proud to welcome two new signatories, putting the total number of declaration supporters at 36 – representing hundreds of organisations worldwide. At the end of December, the Initiative gegen ein Leistungsschutzrecht (IGEL – Initiative against an ancillary copyright law for press publishers) and Universities UK (UUK) signed on...
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Posted on January 19, 2015 by cdcn-square-eu
The long-discussed Copyright review seems to gradually become a reality, as the Juncker Commission slowly rolls out its action plan to create a true digital single market for the EU, and as the European Parliament (EP) divulges its first findings on the matter through the publication of the draft Own-initiative Report on the...
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Posted on October 27, 2014 by cdcn-square-eu
Everyone was a bit thunderstruck as the Court of Justice of the European Union ( CJEU) issued its Decision [PDF] in the BestWater International Case (C-348/13) on 21 October 2014. Not by the result, which can only make us feel happy, but by the speed at which it was delivered.
Indeed, this is a...
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Posted on September 3, 2014 by cdcn-square-eu
As we already posted, on Wednesday 2 July, Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, gave a passionate speech at IViR‘s Information Influx Conference at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). Vice-President Kroes’ speech reflected on the fact that ‘our single market is crying out for...
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Posted on August 8, 2014 by cdcn-square-eu
Copyright 4 Creativity (C4C) co-signed a joint letter [PDF], kick-started by (real) open access publisher PLOS and Creative Commons, calling for the withdrawal of the International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical (STM) Publishers’ model ‘open access’ licences, along with 57 organisations amongst which several C4C signatories.
The letter points out...
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Posted on July 3, 2014 by cdcn-square-eu
On Wednesday 2 July, C4C attended the opening of the ‘Information Influx‘ Conference at the Oude Lutherse Kerk of the University of Amsterdam.
Professor Bernt Hugenholtz – Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
Usually, such events are pretty unsurprising, especially when the agenda reads: first, high placed people from...
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Posted on June 23, 2014 by cdcn-square-eu
On 6 June, the Greek Presidency of the EU organised an International Conference under the heading ‘Copyright and the Digital Agenda for Europe: Current Regulations and Challenges for the Future’, in lovely Athens.
So, lovely Athens first: the event was preceded on 5 June by a very nice and civil cocktail...
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Posted on June 13, 2014 by cdcn-square-eu
We have been a bit slow at commenting the Meltwater ruling by the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) – aka Case C-360/13 Public Relations Consultants Association v Newspaper Licensing Agency Ltd, as we had the joy of attending a copyright event in Athens last week, organised by the Greek...
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Posted on April 30, 2014 by cdcn-square-eu
The Statewatch saga continues. Following the first release of parts of the European Commission’s DG MARKT draft Impact Assessment on the Copyright Review (see our reaction here), Statewatch has now released three further sections, namely those related to:
Text and Data Mining (TDM)
Disabilities, and
Legislative Intervention.
C4C will analyse more thoroughly these documents,...
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Posted on April 28, 2014 by cdcn-square-eu
Parts of a draft European Commission Impact Assessment on the review of the copyright framework from the Internal Market and Services Directorate-General (DG MARKT) have been released today on the website Statewatch. This impact assessment will be used in the context of the copyright White Paper announced by European Commissioner...
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Posted on March 11, 2014 by cdcn-square-eu
In light of the European Commission’s recent public consultation on the review of the EU copyright rules, the Copyright 4 Creativity (C4C) coalition sent a letter to Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Commissioner Michel Barnier urging the European Commission to swiftly publish the submissions received, and preferably next week....
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Posted on February 6, 2014 by cdcn-square-eu
Phase 1: Lots of activity and no jingle bells
At the beginning of December, the European Commission launched its much anticipated public consultation on the review of the EU copyright rules. The due date to respond was 5 February. With Christmas break right in the middle of the consultation period C4C (C4C)...
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Posted on January 15, 2014 by cdcn-square-eu
At the beginning of December, the European Commission launched its much anticipated public consultation on the review of the EU copyright rules, aimed at
‘… ensuring that the EU copyright regulatory framework stays fit for purpose in the digital environment to support creation and innovation, tap the full potential of the Single...
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Posted on December 19, 2013 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C is proud to welcome a new signatory, putting the total number of declaration supporters at 34 – representing hundreds of organisations worldwide. On 19 December 2013, the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKF) signed on to our mission of sensible copyright policy in service of creativity, innovation, education, competitiveness and access to culture.
OKF is...
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Posted on December 18, 2013 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C welcomes the Statement [PDF] on copyright in the digital age published today by our signatory LIBER, the Association of European Research Libraries.
LIBER’s statement is intended to guide its members when responding to the European Commission’s public consultation on the review of the EU copyright rules, which runs until 5 February 2014. Dr. Paul Ayris, President of...
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Posted on December 12, 2013 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C welcomes the Statement on libraries and text and data mining published today by our signatory IFLA, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions..
IFLA believes “that legal certainty for text and data mining (TDM) can only be achieved by (statutory) exceptions. As an organization committed to the principle of...
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Posted on December 5, 2013 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C is proud to welcome two new signatories, putting the total number of declaration supporters at 33 – representing hundreds of organisations worldwide. On 5 December 2013, the Amsterdam based think-thank Kennisland and the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) signed on to our mission of sensible copyright policy in...
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Posted on November 13, 2013 by cdcn-square-eu
Brussels, 13 November 2013 – On the occasion of today’s Licences for Europe (L4E) “plenary” meeting, the C4C Coalition urges the European Commission to finally turn the page of the L4E process and begin work towards revising the copyright and database Directives.
‘The process was flawed from the start’, said Caroline...
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Posted on October 29, 2013 by cdcn-square-eu
RSVP here
MEP Pawel Zalewski, Amelia Andersdotter, Marietje Schaake, and other MEPs co-signed a letter to President Barroso on the need to reform the Information Society (‘InfoSoc’) Directive (2001/29/EC) in December 2012. The Commission responded with the launch of the ‘Licences for Europe’ initiative, which will conclude on 13 November. Now,...
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Posted on July 4, 2013 by cdcn-square-eu
Brussels, 4 July 2013 – On the occasion of today’s Licences for Europe (L4E) “plenary” meeting, the C4C Coalition urges the European Commission to take a stock of the L4E process to date, and to have the courage to admit that the next steps in the process finally need to...
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Posted on July 1, 2013 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C wishes to congratulate all of the organisations involved and especially two of its members, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), for their efforts in the negotiations to conclude a Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities...
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Posted on May 29, 2013 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C is proud to welcome a new signatory. On May 29th 2013, the Fundacja Nowoczesna Polska (Modern Poland Foundation) signed on to our mission of sensible copyright policy in service of creativity, innovation, education, competitiveness and access to culture.
Fundacja Nowoczesna Polska, which represents the general public and culture users, believes...
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Posted on May 27, 2013 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C signatories LIBER (Association of European Research Libraries), Coadec (Coalition for a Digital Economy), EBLIDA (European Bureau of Library, Information, and Documentation Associations) and ENCES (European Network for Copyright in support of Education and Science) have sent a letter of withdrawal to the EU Commission with several other representatives from the research, SMEs and open access publishers sector, due to concerns...
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Posted on April 19, 2013 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C finally got a reply to the letter we sent the European Commission earlier this year raising concerns about transparency and fairness in the Licensing Europe stakeholder dialogue workshops. Unfortunately, the response (click on the picture below for a full-size display) did little to address our concerns. Beyond thanking us for writing,...
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Posted on March 27, 2013 by cdcn-square-eu
A useful resource on global fair use provisions comes by way of the newly released Fair Use/Fair Dealing Handbook. As Jonathan Band explains in his InfoJustice.org blog entry announcing the publication’s release, he and handbook co-author Jonathan Gerafi scoured the world for fair use and fair dealing statutes and collected dozens of them...
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Posted on March 15, 2013 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C is proud to welcome two new members. On March 14, the Coalition for a Digital Economy ( Coadec) and the Warsaw-based Centrum Cyfrowe both signed on to our mission of sensible copyright policy in service of creativity, innovation, education, competitiveness and access to culture.
Founded in 2010 by a group of entrepreneurs and others...
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Posted on March 1, 2013 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C has joined the long list of signatories on a letter to the EU Commission from participants in a recent Licensing Europe stakeholder workshop on text and data mining (TDM).
The letter details “serious and deep-felt concerns “ about Working Group 4 on TDM for scientific and research purposes. Despite the workshop title, we...
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Posted on February 28, 2013 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C today sent a new communication to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso. The C4C letter was sent on behalf of our members and non-member stakeholders to share “serious concerns with substantive and procedural aspects” of the Licensing Europe process.
We highlighted the EU’s continued reliance on licensing as a one-size-fits all solution for...
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Posted on February 27, 2013 by cdcn-square-eu
What exactly do you purchase when you buy an iTunes song or an ebook for your Kindle? And what are you allowed to do with it?
These were the types of questions explored at a workshop organised by the International Federation of Libraries Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and the Computer and...
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Posted on February 1, 2013 by cdcn-square-eu
Several C4C members are slated to join the European Commission’s stakeholder dialogue working group sessions that begin next week as part the “Licensing Europe” initiative. C4C had been communicating with the Commission (including our recent letter to the Commissioners and President Barroso’s reply) to ensure that all stakeholders are being...
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Posted on February 1, 2013 by cdcn-square-eu
Several C4C members are slated to join the European Commission’s stakeholder dialogue working group sessions that begin next week as part the “Licensing Europe” initiative. C4C had been communicating with the Commission (including our recent letter to the Commissioners and Pres. Barroso’s reply) to ensure that all stakeholders are being heard, especially on the issue of augmenting...
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Posted on January 29, 2013 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C remains concerned by the views of Michel Barnier, the member of the European Commission responsible for Internal Market and Services. The Licensing Europe stakeholder dialogues he is convening and his schedule of speaking to diverse groups – most recently at the MIDEM trade show this week for music industry professionals – would...
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Posted on January 9, 2013 by cdcn-square-eu
The office of European Commission President José Manuel Barroso has replied to C4C ’s recent letter to the Commission on the ongoing “Licensing Europe” initiative. C4C had voiced hopes that the commission include our members’ input and not focus too narrowly on licensing models at the expense of limitations and...
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Posted on January 4, 2013 by cdcn-square-eu
Happy New Year from C4C! Even as we look ahead at what promises to be a dynamic year for copyright policy in 2013 – major efforts include the expected revisiting of the EU Copyright Directive and the European Commission’s “Licensing Europe” stakeholder dialogue just now getting underway – it’s worth looking...
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Posted on December 20, 2012 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C has been encouraged by the UK Government’s willingness to implement suggestions from the report it commissioned in November 2010 by professor Ian Hargreaves. The ten recommendations in his resulting May 2011 Independent review of IP & growth were broadly adopted in the initial Government response three months later. Now the final part of the...
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Posted on December 18, 2012 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C has closely followed the release of a global model for flexible copyright exceptions. And for good reason, as we found during the Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest on December 16th. Member organizations from C4C attending the summit included CCIA, eIFL, EFF and KEI.
A global model for flexible exceptions...
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Posted on December 11, 2012 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C held a dynamic December 6 session on the evolution “From Gatekeeper to Door Opener: How Copyright Can Drive Innovation and Access in the 21st Century”. The Prague event brought together policymakers and representatives from the local library, consumer, rightsholder, NGO and business communities. Held under the auspices of the...
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Posted on November 30, 2012 by cdcn-square-eu
On November 30th, C4C transmitted a letter to the college of European Commissioners ahead of their December 5th orientation debate on copyright, led by the Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Michel Barnier.
Commissioner Barnier outlined his vision for European copyright reform in a recent speech at the Brussels-based Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS)...
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Posted on November 29, 2012 by cdcn-square-eu
Over the years, Internet users have grown accustomed to the convenience of small excerpts, or “snippets,” of content that appear as part of search results. The role of these granular samplings of text is pretty straightforward: to give users an idea how their search terms appear in the documents and...
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Posted on November 28, 2012 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C is excited to organize a special event for Czech policymakers, civil servants and other interested stakeholders at the esteemed Hergetova Cihelná in Prague on December 6th, 2012.
The event, which will be held under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and the National Library of the Czech Republic, will...
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Posted on November 12, 2012 by cdcn-square-eu
In one sense, we were glad to see Michel Barnier, a member of the European Commission responsible for Internal Market and Service, acknowledge last week at a speech in Brussels that European copyright doctrine should mesh with the realities of today’s Internet. We will no doubt see reams of analysis in the...
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Posted on October 30, 2012 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C is coordinating our research institutions, libraries and other industry members to participate in the European Commission’s “Licensing Europe” initiative that is now progressing to the stakeholder dialogue phase.
It is important to ensure C4C stakeholders are represented in the discussions; the Commission has noted a particular need for more research institutions to weigh...
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Posted on August 8, 2012 by cdcn-square-eu
The European Commission has recently put forward a proposal on collective rights management and multi-territorial licensing for the Single Market. The overall goal of the proposed Directive is to modernize collecting societies and promote greater transparency and efficiency. The Commission sees this as essential to advance the cross-border, multi-territorial licensing...
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Posted on August 6, 2012 by cdcn-square-eu
The European Commission has recently published an update on its digitisation efforts. Some of the highlights:
Europeana now contains more than 23 million records from more than 2200 institutions;
Among some of the recent improvements is a dedicated, digital collection of artefacts from the first world war;
To make it easier to search its database and add...
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Posted on June 28, 2012 by cdcn-square-eu
On Tuesday, European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroos held a meeting with major publishers, digital service providers (DSPs) like Amazon and Google and a few authors representatives to discuss the future of the digital book economy in Europe (see attendee list).
The discussions focused mainly on copyright and digital rights management, identified by the...
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Posted on June 11, 2012 by cdcn-square-eu
On May 30th, C4C, in cooperation with library and consumer organisations, co-organised two events on copyright limitations and exceptions in the library of the European Parliament in Brussels. The events, which were hosted by Dutch Member of Parliament Marietje Schaake, focused on how copyright could better serve the needs of...
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Posted on May 1, 2012 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C will be organising two special events in the library of the European Parliament in Brussels on May 30th:
09:30 – 12:45: Index or Footnote? How to ensure that libraries power the information society
13:45 – 17:15: I Want It Now! Creators addressing consumers’ needs in the digital age
The events will be...
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Posted on April 13, 2012 by cdcn-square-eu
iCommon signed on to the C4C Declaration today to become the 27th signatory organisation.
iCommons Ltd is a UK charity that was established by Creative Commons to promote open sharing on a global basis. It represent users of information, knowledge and culture. The membership is limited to charitable entities with similar...
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Posted on March 16, 2012 by cdcn-square-eu
JISC, a UK think tank providing advice on the use of information technology to higher education and research institutions, published an extensive report on data mining in the UK on March 14th.
To tap the full potential of data mining for innovation and scientific development, the authors call for a copyright...
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Posted on March 6, 2012 by cdcn-square-eu
Last week the Irish Copyright Review Committee published a Greenpaper that seeks to identify possible barriers to innovation in the Irish Copyright framework. Copyright For Creativity, which held an outreach event in Dublin in January to connect with Irish Copyright experts and policymakers, commends the members of the Review Committee...
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Posted on March 2, 2012 by cdcn-square-eu
On March 1st, Copyright For Creativity published a Statement on the proposed Orphan Works Directive. The Statement was sent to the MEPs on the Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) and key members of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) and Culture and Education (CULT) Committees. By their very nature orphan...
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Posted on February 20, 2012 by cdcn-square-eu
Last week, the European Parliament endorsed a resolution calling on the European Council and the Commission to support a binding international treaty at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). The petition was put originally forward by Dan Pescod on behalf of the World Blind Union, the European Blind Union and...
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Posted on January 24, 2012 by cdcn-square-eu
On 17th January, C4C invited a group of Irish and EU policy makers and their staff, and representatives from business, libraries and research institutions, licensing agencies and the music sector to the venerable Trinity College Library in Dublin to discuss copyright challenges from the perspective of libraries and research institutions.
The...
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Posted on January 23, 2012 by cdcn-square-eu
DG INFOSOC released a study on the challenges of the European film heritage institutions last week. The report, which was produced by the consultancy firm Peacefulfish, presents a dire image of the status of European film preservation. The authors conclude that without legal changes and additional resources, a large parts...
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Posted on December 21, 2011 by cdcn-square-eu
The Libraries and Archives Copyright Allicance (LACA) signed on to the C4C Declaration today to become the 26th signatory organisation.
LACA is an United Kingdom umbrella group convened by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals and advocates for a fair and balanced copyright regime that delivers universally accessible...
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Posted on December 7, 2011 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C is excited to join Irish and European Parliamentarians, civil servants and the Irish library community for a special event at the esteemed Trinity College Library in Dublin, Ireland on 17th January 2012.
The theme of the event will be “Libraries, Archives and the Information Revolution: How to Square the Circle...
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Posted on November 4, 2011 by cdcn-square-eu
The Commission adopted a Recommendation last week that intends to stimulate the digitisation of cultural works and artefacts.
EU Member States are asked to make more resources available and enter into partnership agreements with the private sector to increase the number of cultural artefacts available online. The initiative, which invites member...
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Posted on November 3, 2011 by cdcn-square-eu
The European Commission is currently holding a public consultation on its green paper on the online distribution of audiovisual works ending on Friday, November 18th. The paper aims to facilitate a single market for the distribution of audiovisual works online and focuses on two areas in particular:
rights clearance issues with...
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Posted on October 14, 2011 by cdcn-square-eu
European Commission Vice-President Neelie Kroes delivered a speech during the Frankfurt book fair yesterday where she laied our her ideas for the e-publishing sector. The full text is available here.
Here is a short summary of her speech:
Digitisation of cultural works
ICT companies, rights holders and libraries must work together closely to...
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Posted on September 16, 2011 by cdcn-square-eu
Major ARROW study demonstrates key issues in clearing the rights of Orphan Works from 1870-2010 and the importance of the ARROW system
The British Library, as part of the wider EU funded ARROW (Accessible Registries of Rights Information and Orphan Works) project [1], has today published a study into rights clearance...
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Posted on July 24, 2011 by cdcn-square-eu
The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), a C4C member and policy advocacy group representing a broad cross-section of the high-tech sector, announced the release of the latest edition of its “fair use economy” study in the U.S. – a short study of the the economic contributions of industries that rely on limitations to, and not...
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Posted on July 10, 2011 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C held a successful dinner event at the European Parliament in Brussels on June 14th. A total of 37 guests followed our invitation to discuss the needs of creators, archivists, and educators in transforming creative works and how the European copyright framework could be improved to meet their challenges. Participants included...
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Posted on May 25, 2011 by cdcn-square-eu
On May 18th, Ian Hargreaves, Professor of Journalism at Cardiff University, published a report entitled “Digital Opportunity: A Review of Intellectual Property and Growth”.
According to UK Prime Minister James Cameron, who commissioned the report, the review was needed because the current IP framework in the UK might not be well designed...
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Posted on May 11, 2011 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C will be hosting a Dinner for European Parliamentarians, Commissioners and other policy-makers on the evening of the 21st June at the European Parliament in Brussels.
The theme of this evening will be “Copyright and Creativity in the Digital Age: The Shared Needs of Creators, Archivists, and Educators in Altering, Copying and...
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Posted on May 6, 2011 by cdcn-square-eu
Teeven van Veiligheid, the Dutch Secretary of State for Justice has recently published a letter outlining the Governments vision on copyright. The letter is only available in Dutch but Wouter Schallier, Executive Director of LIBER, the Association of European Research Libraries, has kindly offered to summarise the text in English...
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Posted on May 3, 2011 by cdcn-square-eu
BEUC, the European Consumers’ Organisation and C4C signatory has recently released a brochure on Intellectual Property Rights entitled How to make IPRs work for both creators & consumers.
The document includes a number of practical examples and highlights the key elements for a consumer-friendly and forward-looking IP strategy: balanced rights, access and diversity, fair...
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Posted on March 1, 2011 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C will be hosting European and Dutch parliamentarians, policymakers and senior members of the international library community for drinks and conversation on the evening of 13th April in The Hague, on the eve of the IFLA Presidential Meeting “Libraries Driving Access to Knowledge: Action for Europe“.
This is an informal opportunity...
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Posted on February 14, 2011 by cdcn-square-eu
On February 11th, a cross-party group of European Parliament members and their staff, members of the UK House of Lords and Commons and their staff, UK government representation and representatives of industry, libraries and research institutions, and world-renowned musical performers and composers met at the British Library to discuss the...
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Posted on December 31, 2010 by cdcn-square-eu
C4C had a great 2010, especially considering it only launched in May. We enjoyed a 56% increase in membership over the course of the year, and our first events of 2011 are already well on the way to fruition. Leading the way is a special event in February at the...
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