Webinar KR21: Are flexible copyright exceptions the next step for Europe?
Knowledgerights 21 is organizing a webinar on flexible copyright exceptions from a European perspective that will take place on February 13, 2023, from 11:00 to 12:30.
We tend to associate the civil law systems that dominate in Europe with narrowly defined exceptions, only allowing users to undertake a specific, predefined task. But in fact, traditionally, civil law systems have been characterised as codifying broad and flexible principles into law, giving courts much leeway in their interpretation. It is only over the 20th century, as copyright law has been frequently updated, and the European Union has sought to bring some unity to diverse legal traditions, that much of this openness and flexibility has been lost. Ironically, now it is sometimes even said that open norms are alien to civil law traditions.
The webinar will be chaired by Felix Reda, with speakers prof. Emily Hudson, prof. Chung-Lun Sung and Benjamin White.
You can register here.
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.