Use of content protected by technical protection measures (TPMs) can be burdensome or even impossible, when there are no clear and rapid mechanisms in place to unlock such protection measures or when it is not possible to locate the owners of such measures. Circumvention of TPMs should thus be explicitly allowed when exercising usage rights, and the deployment of TPMs to hinder access to Public Domain material on copyright grounds should be prohibited. In addition, to protect users against abusive contractual practices and to ensure that they do not lose their rights, contractual terms that seek to prohibit usage rights should be rendered unenforceable.
The review of the DSM Directive is just around the corner. To mark the occasion, we’ve invited several experts to reflect on the issues the Directive aimed to fix—but didn’t. Kristofer Erickson’s guest post reviews new research highlighting the the failure of Articles 6 and 7 to solve the constraints posed by technological protection measures. […]
Yesterday, COMMUNIA made a submission to the call for evidence for an impact assessment on the European Research Area (ERA) Act. The European Commission is expected to propose an ERA Act over the course of the 2024-2029 mandate, to turn the “fifth freedom” for research, innovation, knowledge and education into reality and unlock European research. […]
Today, COMMUNIA releases Policy Paper #23 for a general scientific research exception (also available as a PDF file), advocating for a comprehensive overhaul of the copyright framework for research uses. The research exceptions in the EU copyright acquis are too limited in scope, not sufficiently harmonised, and display additional conceptual issues, preventing the realisation of […]
Background It is the European Union’s stated goal to create a European Research Area (ERA), “a single, borderless market for research, innovation and technology across the EU.” Yet this ambition remains only partially realised. Significant barriers still prevent European researchers from accessing essential research resources remotely and legally sharing them with collaborators across Member States. […]
A Polish version of our brochure A Digital Knowledge Act for Europe is now available (as a PDF file). In this publication, we provide an overview of the barriers that prevent libraries, archives, universities and other knowledge institutions from carrying out their public interest mission in the digital environment and present solutions. Like the English […]
This is the Polish version of our brochure A Digital Knowledge Act for Europe. In this publication, we lay out our ideas for a Digital Knowledge Act – a targeted legislative intervention that enables libraries, archives, universities and other knowledge institutions to offer the same services online as offline. The translation was done by COMMUNIA […]
A French version of our brochure A Digital Knowledge Act for Europe is now available (as a PDF file). In this publication, we provide an overview of the barriers that prevent libraries, archives, universities and other knowledge institutions from carrying out their public interest mission in the digital environment and present solutions. Like the English […]
This is the French version of our brochure A Digital Knowledge Act for Europe. In this publication, we lay out our ideas for a Digital Knowledge Act – a targeted legislative intervention that enables libraries, archives, universities and other knowledge institutions to offer the same services online as offline. The translation was done by COMMUNIA […]
A German version of our brochure A Digital Knowledge Act for Europe is now available (as a PDF file). In this publication, we provide an overview of the barriers that prevent libraries, archives, universities and other knowledge institutions from carrying out their public interest mission in the digital environment and present solutions. Like the English […]
This is the German version of our brochure A Digital Knowledge Act for Europe. In this publication, we lay out our ideas for a Digital Knowledge Act – a targeted legislative intervention that enables libraries, archives, universities and other knowledge institutions to offer the same services online as offline. Our booklet is structured along four […]
