Private encroachment of the Public Domain is a serious threat to a common wealth that belongs to all, and must not be appropriated by anyone. Private entities and individuals have a responsibility not to interfere with the right to freely access and use Public Domain works, and should face judicial scrutiny if they fail to do so. Europe should grant a positive status to the Public Domain and a legal standing to both users’ rights organisations and individuals, regardless of a concrete individual interest, to protect the right to use Public Domain works and to oppose any false and misleading attempts to claim exclusive rights over Public Domain works.
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 […]
In our capacity as accredited observers of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), we are attending the 47th session of the Committee, which is currently taking place in Geneva (1-5 December, 2025). The following statement contains COMMUNIA’s position regarding the current draft treaty on the protection of broadcasting organizations (Agenda Item […]
COMMUNIA has signed the Open Heritage Statement — a global call to advance equitable access to Public Domain heritage in the digital environment and to help inform international policy. As a founding member of the TAROCH Coalition (Towards a Recommendation on Open Cultural Heritage), a global community effort steered by our member Creative Commons, COMMUNIA […]
In our capacity as accredited observers of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), we are attending the 46th session of the Committee, which is currently taking place in Geneva (April 7-11, 2025). The following statement contains COMMUNIA’s position regarding the current draft treaty on the protection of Broadcasting Organizations (Agenda Item […]
We’re excited to join the TAROCH Coalition, a global community effort steered by our member Creative Commons to encourage UNESCO to achieve the adoption of a UNESCO standard-setting instrument to improve open access to cultural heritage. The Coalition is led by representatives of a global, diverse community of organisations and institutions involved in cultural heritage […]
On June 18th, we hosted our first online salon in 2024 on the hollowing out of the Public Domain through cultural heritage laws with a particular focus on Italy. In recent years there have been a number of problematic court cases around the commercial reuse of Public Domain works held by Italian cultural heritage institutions. […]
In our capacity as accredited observers of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), we are attending the 45th session of the Committee, which is currently taking place in Geneva (April 15-19, 2024). We made the following statement regarding the protection of Broadcasting Organizations (Agenda Item 4): Dear Delegates, The proposed broadcast […]
This is the fourth blog post in our series on trends in national copyright policy following the DSM implementation. With the national processes finalised in all Member States, we’re evaluating the transpositions to understand the impact of our proposals, identify areas of convergence and divergence, and assess how those affect the position of users and […]
Two weeks ago, the Uffizi Gallery sent ripples through the open community by suing French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier for using Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus (1483) — which is on display in the Uffizi — in a clothing collection. Botticelli’s death in 1510 preceded the birth of copyright by centuries and his […]
