Today, COMMUNIA launches the rightcopyright.eu campaign, asking for support for a better copyright for education. Let’s raise our voices and spread the word about this petition so we can influence our legislators in creating better copyright laws for education.
Why we need your help
The European Commission has presented a new European copyright law (Draft Directive) to the European Parliament which very much impacts education. Unfortunately, the current proposal is very disappointing and does not facilitate education. Educators have embraced the modern possibilities, and so should copyright. Therefore, COMMUNIA has developed a campaign website rightcopyright.eu to collect petitions of educators throughout Europe to let the European Parliamentarians know we need a better copyright for education. The European parliament will vote on the proposal later this year, and can change, accept or reject it. We will present the outcomes of the petition in the European Parliament, clearly showing them the voice of the European citizens eager for a good-quality education, and a copyright that matches.
Copyright is the exclusive right of a creator to determine how, where and when his work is published or distributed. Copyright affects education. It determines the extent to which a teacher may use, share or remix any material made by someone else. In some cases, there is a special exception to copyright for education. Unfortunately, there are still many things teachers do but that are not allowed. All the European countries have implemented the current EU laws on copyright in a different way, which makes it very difficult for teachers to know what they can and cannot share internationally.
What you can do to help
Please visit the campaign website rightcopyright.eu and if you support a better copyright for education, sign the petition. We would love it if you shared the campaign with your colleagues, friends and family via mail, social media or face to face. You can find sample tweets, posts and images on the campaign website.
If you would like to know more about the campaign, or have questions, please contact Lisette Kalshoven at lk@kl.nl.
Rightcopyright.eu is part of the project Copyright for Education, funded by the Open Society Foundation.
