Who won Eurovision Best Copyright Reform? How many points did Slovenia get?
In June 2022, Communia launched a competition for the best implementation of the Directive on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market (DSM Directive). The “Eurovision DSM contest” aims to track the implementation of the DSM Directive in the 27 EU member states.
Three years have passed since the adoption of the DSM directive. Slovenia is also among the competitors, as at the end of September, with the amendments to the Copyright and Related Rights Act (ZASP-I) and to the Collective Management of Copyright and Related Rights Act (ZKUASP-A), it finally implemented the DSM Directive. With this project, Communia assesses how well countries have implemented the DSM Directive into national legislation and awards points to member states (the maximum possible number of points is 12). Slovenia fared quite poorly and received a total of 6 points. The countries with the most points are Germany and Sweden, which have earned 10 points, on the other hand, 7 countries are still late in implementation.
A lower number of points was awarded to Slovenia due to the problematic process of adopting the legislation, as it went through an urgent legislative procedure. The drafters of the reform justified it as a necessary one due to the sanctions threatened by the EU Commission for the implementation delay, while critics warned that it was a distortion of the democratic process.
It is important to point out the exception for teaching, which was significantly worsened by the implementation of the DSM Directive. Although the DSM Directive gave the legislator the possibility to implement the exception as a free use of the works for this purpose (that is, without compensation), it instead opted for an obligation to pay compensation and the possibility to override the exception in the event that licenses of the publishers are available on the market. According to the exception in the part governing distance education, the use of the work for the purposes of illustration in the lesson is chargeable, but in the event that licenses are available on the market, the exception cannot be used at all.
On the other hand, the bonus point was awarded to Slovenia because of the very good exception for text and data mining, which will empower research and educational institutions, and also because Slovenia finally has a general exception for scientific research, although it could be introduced into the legislation as early as the implementation of the Directive on the harmonization of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society from 2001.
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.