Last week, rapporteurs Aura Salla and Marina Kaljurand published their draft report on the Digital Omnibus. The report contains an important and welcome proposal to strengthen the rules on exclusive arrangements for the digitisation of cultural heritage. At the same time, it leaves untouched one of the most problematic parts of the Commission proposal: the […]
The European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) has adopted a draft opinion on the Digital Omnibus that contains some welcome attempts to preserve the core principles of Europe’s open government data framework. Whereas the Commission proposal risks dismantling the Open Data Directive’s “open by default” approach, JURI rightly recognises that open data remains essential. […]
The European Commission has launched a call for evidence on a possible legislative initiative to create a “better copyright environment for European creativity and innovation”. The call for evidence accompanies both the upcoming review of the Copyright in the Digital Single Market (DSM) Directive and the Commission’s exploration of targeted reforms addressing challenges linked to […]
On 1 June, COMMUNIA brought together policymakers, researchers, Public AI developers and cultural heritage professionals in Brussels for the event Copyright Liability and the Knowledge Ecosystem. The event explored a question that is becoming increasingly urgent for Europe’s knowledge institutions: how can public-interest actors exercise the rights granted to them by copyright exceptions when legal […]
In our capacity as accredited observers of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), we are attending the 48th session of the Committee, which is currently taking place in Geneva (18-22 May, 2026). On Tuesday, we made the following statement on Limitations and exceptions for libraries and archives/ Limitations and exceptions for […]
In our capacity as accredited observers of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), we are attending the 48th session of the Committee, which is currently taking place in Geneva (18-22 May, 2026). Today, we made the following statement on the protection of broadcasting organizations (Agenda Item 4). Dear Delegates, I speak […]
Today we are releasing The Post-DSM Copyright Report (available as PDF here). This report analyses how Member States have implemented key user rights provisions of the DSM Directive: text and data mining rights, education rights, cultural heritage rights, the Public Domain safeguard, protections against overrides, limits to the press publishers’ right, and user rights safeguards […]
At the 47th session of WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), the African Group tabled a proposal for an instrument on limitations and exceptions aimed at supporting education, research, cultural heritage, and access for persons with disabilities. For years, discussions at SCCR on limitations and exceptions have been marked by resistance from […]
Last year, Denmark introduced amendments to its Copyright Act granting copyright-like protection to individuals’ personal characteristics and digital imitations of performances. As we argued during the public consultation, while the objective of this initiative—to protect individuals and performing artists against AI-generated deepfakes—is commendable, copyright is not the appropriate legal framework to address these concerns. In […]
MEP Axel Voss’s own-initiative report on copyright and generative AI will be put to a vote in the JURI Committee on 28 January. Although framed as a response to legitimate questions around AI and copyright, the proposal suffers from serious shortcomings, most notably its disregard for the existing legal framework. Despite some more constructive compromise […]
