We’re taking part in Copyright Week, a series of actions and discussions supporting key principles that should guide copyright policy. Every day this week, various groups are taking on different elements of the law, and addressing what’s at stake, and what we need to do to make sure that copyright promotes creativity and innovation. COMMUNIA […]
Communia has published a policy paper on the topic of leveraging copyright in support of education. We contend that exceptions and limitations to copyright for education should support broad access and re-use of copyrighted content of all types in a variety of education settings and across borders. The best way to achieve the proper balance […]
Recently, everybody has been busy discussing the question of whether the Diary of Anne Frank will enter (or by now, has entered) the public domain on January 1st this year (Answer: It’s complicated). Surprisingly, the discussions surrounding the copyright in Anne Frank’s writings may shed some light on another contentious copyright policy issue: text and […]
At the end of the last year COMMUNIA submitted its response to the European Commission’s public consultation on online platforms. While we have not hidden the fact that this particular consultation is deeply flawed in its approach (see here, here and here), we have nevertheless chosen to submit answers to some of the question raised […]
This post was written by Agnieszka Vetulani-Cegiel. The European Commission is willing to cooperate with interested parties (i.e. civil society, interest groups, stakeholders, other entities). The open attitude of the Commission is demonstrated by the inclusion of these parties in the policy-making process, and in work on legal mechanisms. This situation is beneficial to both sides. […]
Join us on January 25th in the European Parliament to celebrate Public Domain Day. This day falls on the first day of the new year and marks the term of copyright protection on creative works. This new state for cultural works means that they are now free to be reused for new cultural, commercial, educational […]
Last week’s Communication from the Commission did not explicitly state that they plan to introduce ancillary copyright in Europe, but it was very easy to read between the lines. Research in Spain has shown (and again in Germany) that ancillary copyright is good for no-one, so the echoes from the Commission about considering the introduction […]
On Tuesday Creative Commons released its 2015 State of the Commons report. The annual report showcases data and trends about the growth and diversity of the commons. Creative Commons—which is a founding member of COMMUNIA— reported a major milestone this year: over 1.1 billion CC licensed photos, videos, audio tracks, educational materials, research articles, 3D […]
Last month we wrote about how the European Commission is running a consultation on the ‘Regulatory environment for platforms, online intermediaries, data and cloud computing and the collaborative economy’. While this is an important opportunity to provide feedback, it’s not been easy for individuals to parse the Commission’s long and complicated questionnaire. The Copyright4Creativity coalition […]
Is it dangerous to take a public domain picture from Wikipedia and use it on your blog or print it on a T-shirt? Last week we wrote about a copyright case in Germany where several users of public domain pictures received letters from the lawyers of Mannheim’s Reiss-Engelhorn museum. The letters demanded payment for the […]
