On 15 January, we celebrated the Public Domain Day 2026 at the Royal Library of Belgium, bringing together advocates, academics and practitioners from a variety of backgrounds. Like every year the expiry of copyright protection has led to many “new” heritage works entering the Public Domain. To celebrate the occasion, highlight the importance of the […]
Today, the JURI Committee adopted Axel Voss’s own-initiative report on copyright and generative AI. The Committee also endorsed all compromise amendments, some of which reflect concerns raised by COMMUNIA and other stakeholders. However, even with these changes, the report still contains ambiguities and problematic language that risk creating legal uncertainty, particularly for researchers and developers […]
In July, MEP Axel Voss released his draft for an own initiative report on Copyright and generative AI in the JURI Committee. While the proposal was well-intentioned, in our initial reaction we were quick to criticize numerous aspects of the text, most notably its disregard for the existing legal framework, ambiguous proposals and lack of […]
Last week we saw the first draft of the long-anticipated own-initiative report on copyright and generative artificial intelligence authored by Axel Voss for the JURI Committee (download as a PDF file). The report, which marks the third entry of the Committee’s recent push on the topic after a workshop and the release of a study […]
At the end of February, the European Commission adopted its proposal for a Council Recommendation on the European Research Area (ERA) Policy Agenda for 2025 to 2027. The proposal follows the previous ERA Policy Agenda which ran from 2022 to 2024 and will serve as a three-year roadmap for development goals in the European Research […]
As per each January 1st, COMMUNIA and its partners celebrate that new cultural works enter the Public Domain. In 2025, we celebrate the entry of many artists in the Public Domain such as Frida Kahlo, Colette, Matisse, and Virginia Woolf. To mark the occasion, we co-hosted this year’s Public Domain Day on January 9 at […]
As a parting gift, in December the Hungarian Council presidency published its summary of Member States’ contributions to the policy questionnaire on the relationship between generative Artificial Intelligence and copyright and related rights. The questionnaire, which was presented at the Copyright Working Party meeting of 3 July 2024 gave Member States the opportunity to provide […]
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 […]
The end is in sight! After delays at (almost) every stage of the legislative process, the EU AI Act will soon be published in the EU’s official journal and eventually enter into force in August. This marks the end of more than 3 years of negotiations since the text was originally proposed by the European […]
Earlier today, the European Parliament voted in favour of the Directive on common rules promoting the repair of goods. With this Directive, the EU aims to increase the level of consumer and environmental protection by encouraging consumers to repair defective products instead of replacing them. To that end, the proposal takes a number of important […]
