Legislators need to take into account the public interest in implementing Article 17
42 organizations that advocate for the protection of fundamental rights of users on the internet and a wide access to knowledge, amongst which Civil Liberties Union of Europe, Wikimedia Foundation, IFLA, EDRi, Communia and Creative Commons, addressed an open letter to the European Commission at the beginning of this week.
In the letter they emphasize the importance of respecting the rights from the Charter of fundamental rights of the EU in the process of transposing the Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market into national legislations of member states. In connection to Article 17 (previous Article 13), freedom of expression and a transparent implementation promoting a constructive debate and taking into account the public interest that the undersigned organizations represent is of crucial importance.
The Directive was published in the Official Journal of the EU which means that the member states will have 2 years to implement it starting 7 June.
The Internet Archive is a non-profit organization that maintains the Open Library, a digital library index, and is dedicated to preserving knowledge. As many of the works in the Internet Archive are under copyright, the Archive uses a system of controlled digital lending based on digital rights management to prevent unauthorized downloading or copying of copyrighted books. In March 2020, due to the circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the Internet Archive established the National Emergency Library, eliminating the waiting lists used in the Open Library and expanding access to books for all readers. In June 2020, the Emergency National Library faced a lawsuit from four book publishers and was ultimately closed.
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.