We are publishing today our position paper on copyright reform in Europe (PDF), as a statement in the ongoing debate that focuses on the reform of the Information Society Directive.
Our position is based on the 14 policy recommendations that are at the heart of our organisation, as well as on our previous policy documents. We start by defining three basic principles:
- Exclusive rights should be limited.
- The public domain should not be eroded by legal or technical means.
- Limitations and exceptions to copyright should continue playing their role of adapting copyright to technological changes.
Based on them, we formulate 12 positions on the EU copyright framework reform. We will be using them as guidance for our own advocacy work – but we present them also as recommendations for policy makers.
These positions are result of a discussion on ways of translating a general principle of defending and expanding the public domain into recommendations that fit onto current policy debates in Europe. In this light we are pleased to see that the majority of our positions have been covered by MEP Reda in her draft report on the implementation of of the InfoSoc directive.
