The EU’s Digital Omnibus Proposal has sparked controversy, especially over the planned changes to the data protection regime. But the package goes beyond privacy rules. One amendment to the Open Data Directive in particular could have serious consequences, potentially undermining open projects such as the Wikimedia projects. As part of its “simplification” agenda, the Commission […]
Last week, COMMUNIA submitted its response to the European Commission’s questionnaire on the European Innovation Act. The Commission considers this initiative a key element of the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy, designed to improve conditions for innovators by facilitating the commercialisation of research results, strengthening collaboration between academia and industry, and improving access to markets, […]
On June 11th, the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart largely upheld the 2024 decision of the Regional Court of Stuttgart, confirming that the Italian Cultural Heritage Code cannot be enforced outside of Italy. While the appellate court, like the lower court, did not directly address whether the Code aligns with EU law, its ruling nonetheless […]
This week, COMMUNIA made a submission to a call for evidence on the assessment of the May 2023 Commission Recommendation on combating online piracy of sports and other live events (available as a PDF file). The Commission is set to assess whether the Recommendation has led to the adoption of effective measures against the unauthorised […]
Today, COMMUNIA made a submission to the EU Start-up and Scale-up Strategy call for evidence (available as a PDF file). Due to COMMUNIA’s focus on access to knowledge, we focused on this issue, outlining specific barriers to access to knowledge that apply to start-ups and scale-ups as well as the research sector, which is the […]
This week, COMMUNIA made a submission to a call for evidence on the evaluation of the Geo-blocking Regulation (available as a PDF file). The European Commission is set to review the rules for geo-blocking, including for audiovisual services and copyright-protected works, this year. After the stakeholder dialogue on access to and availability of audiovisual works […]
Today, we are publishing our 2024 annual report that covers COMMUNIA’s activities between January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024. This corresponds to the second reporting period for our structural grant from Arcadia, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin. Over the last year, we benefited from the consolidated organisational structure and an […]
With all the hearings of Commissioners-designate in the books, we present to you our key insights for copyright policy. Unsurprisingly, copyright is only one among many concerns of von der Leyen’s second mandate. Nonetheless, it is a cross-cutting issue that will keep multiple members of her College busy. Two hearings stood out in particular: Ekaterina […]
Five of the biggest publishers in the world, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, John Wiley & Sons, and Penguin Random House, are currently suing the Internet Archive in the US for lending digital scans of books in its collection on a one-copy-one-user basis. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has now confirmed the ruling of […]
The Italian Ministry of Culture has taken legal proceedings in Italy against a number of commercial uses of Public Domain works held in Italian collections. Defendants included GQ Italia (for using Michelangelo’s David on a magazine cover), Jean Paul Gaultier (for using Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus in a clothing collection) and, of particular interest […]
