This study, commissioned by COMMUNIA to Martin Senftleben, Kacper Szkalej and Etienne Valk identifies and analyses the principal sources of copyright-related uncertainty in the EU copyright system and their implications for knowledge institutions stemming both from the legal framework and the ways in which copyright may be strategically leveraged against institutions.
The authors cast doubt upon the practical effectiveness of EU copyright provisions seeking to support teaching, research and the work of cultural heritage institutions. Concluding that without appropriate countermeasures, the current EU copyright acquis in the field of teaching, research and cultural heritage may be unconstitutional.
In response, the study advances a reform agenda that emphasises the importance of certainty, fairness, and equitable access to knowledge under which the role of copyright should be reaffirmed as a facilitator of research and innovation and as a protector of the public interest.
