Inclusion of the public domain in Article 5
Regarding the reform of the copyright in the Digital Single Market, the negotiators in the trilogue have provisionally agreed to include a Public Domain clause in Article 5 of the Directive.
The provision will ensure that reproductions of works in the public domain can no longer be protected by copyright or neighbouring rights (as it is still the case in some member states such as Spain and Germany). This means that someone who will photograph a painting in the public domain, for instance, will not be able to re-establish copyright or any other neighbouring right on that work. This is also in accordance with the principle of the Public Domain Manifesto that “what is in the public domain must remain in the public domain”. The Intellectual Property Institute sees this a step in the right direction and supports the regulation of the concept of the public domain on EU levels.
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.