EU member states approve the Proposal for the Directive
The member states of the EU have on the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) approved the text of the Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market that was negotiated in the trilogue.
Netherlands, Luxembourg, Poland, Italy and Finland were against the proposal, while Slovenia and Belgium abstained from voting. The members states who were against explained in a joint statement that the Directive is a step back for a digital single market and that does not create balance between the protection of the right holders and the interests of the citizens.
The proposal still has to be approved by the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI), which is likely to happen on 26 February 2019. If the proposal is approved, the European Parliament will have to vote on it. On the level of the Council, the ministers of the members states will also have to decide on the proposal. Since the Council can approve the proposal in any composition, this means that in theory the ministers for agriculture could decide on the directive in the final stage.
The 43rd session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (hereinafter SCCR) made substantial progress on the issues advocated by the A2K Coalition (Access to Knowledge Coalition), which IPI is a member of. This year’s session was the most productive on the issues of exceptions and limitations. James Love (Knowledge Ecology International), a long-time observer at WIPO, described the outcome and the impact of the public interest community as the strongest since the conclusion of the Marrakech Treaty, which brought global copyright exceptions for the benefit of the blind and visually impaired.
Today, March 17, 2023, a symposium on law in the information society is taking place in the golden lecture hall of the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana. Dr. Maja Bogataj Jančič will present copyright aspects of artificial intelligence at the symposium.
The third day of the 43rd session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights is intended for discussion on the topic of exceptions and limitations to copyright, especially in connection with the right to research.
The 43rd session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR/43) is being held in Geneva from March 13 to 17, 2023. The Intellectual Property Institute has a permanent observer status at WIPO since 2022 and is also a member of the Access to Knowledge Coalition (A2K coalition).