Suchergebnisse

This article examines the conditions under which a system of extended collective licensing (ECL) for the use of works contained in the collections of cultural heritage institutions (CHIs) participating in Europeana could function within a cross-border basis. ECL is understood as a form of collective rights management whereby the application of freely negotiated copyright licensing agreements between a user and a collective management organisation ("CMO"), is extended by law to non-members of the organisation. ECL regimes have already been put in place in a few Member States and so far, all have the ability to apply only on a national basis. This article proposes a mechanism that would allow works licensed under an ECL system in one territory of the European Union to be made available in all the territories of the Union. The proposal rests on the statutory recognition of the "country of origin" principle, as necessary and sufficient territory for the negotiation and application of an ECL solution for the rights clearance of works contained in the collection of a cultural heritage institution, including orphan works.

The article examines whether the norms laid down in the Directive in relation to the exceptions and limitations on copyright and related rights can be conducive to a sensible degree of harmonisation across the European Union. Before discussing the degree of harmonisation achieved so far by the Directive, the first part gives a short overview of the main characteristics of the list of exceptions and limitations contained in Article 5 of the Directive. A comprehensive review of the implementation of each limitation by the Member States is beyond the scope of this article. The following section takes a closer look at three examples of limitations that have led to legislative changes at the Member State level as express measures towards the implementation of the Information Society Directive, that is, the limitations for the benefit of libraries, for teaching and research, and for persons with a disability. These exceptions and limitations were later on also identified by the European Commission as key elements in the deployment of a digital knowledge economy. The analysis will show that the implementation of the provisions on limitations in the Information Society Directive did not, and probably cannot, yield the expected level of harmonisation across the European Union and that, as a consequence, there still exists a significant degree of uncertainty for the stakeholders regarding the extent of permissible acts with respect to copyright protected works.

This study addresses the most important legal issues when implementing an open access e-infrastructure for research data. It examines the legal requirements for different kinds of usage of research data in an open access infrastructure, such as OpenAIREplus, which links them to publications. The existing legal framework regarding potentially relevant intellectual property (IP) rights is analysed from the general European perspective as well as from that of selected EU Member States. Various examples and usage scenarios are used to explain the scope of protection of the potentially relevant IP rights. In addition different licence models are analysed in order to identify the licence that is best suited to the aim of open access, especially in the context of the infrastructure of OpenAIREplus. Based on the outcomes of these analyses, some recommendations to the European legislator as well as data- and e-infrastructure providers are given on improving the rights situation in relation to research data

Extended Collective Licensing (ECL) schemes have been put forward in Europe as one of the solutions for the licensing of out-of-commerce works by cultural heritage institutions. ECL schemes extend the application of freely negotiated copyright licensing agreements between a user and a collective management organisation (CMO) to the works of non-members of the organisation. Not every CMO is suitable to license works under ECL provisions, however. In particular, the legitimacy of any agreement crucially relies on the "representativeness" of the CMO. This article focuses on the notion of representativeness of CMOs. On the basis of current European and national legislation, we argue that the representative character of a CMO encompasses three essential elements to be considered from the perspective of the rights owners: (1) the CMO must have a broad membership among the potential rights owners in the market it serves; (2) it must have a proper mandate from the rights owners in terms of category of works and rights covered; and (3) it must take appropriate measures to reach and inform (non-)members about the exercise of rights. ECL schemes can only be sufficiently legitimate to presume tacit approval by non-members if this assessment of the three criteria is carried out carefully.

This study addresses the most important legal issues when implementing an open access e-infrastructure for research data. It examines the legal requirements for different kinds of usage of research data in an open access infrastructure, such as OpenAIREplus, which links them to publications. The existing legal framework regarding potentially relevant intellectual property (IP) rights is analysed from the general European perspective as well as from that of selected EU Member States. Various examples and usage scenarios are used to explain the scope of protection of the potentially relevant IP rights. In addition different licence models are analysed in order to identify the licence that is best suited to the aim of open access, especially in the context of the infrastructure of OpenAIREplus. Based on the outcomes of these analyses, some recommendations to the European legislator as well as data- and e-infrastructure providers are given on improving the rights situation in relation to research data. ; peerReviewed

This study addresses the most important legal issues when implementing an open access e-infrastructure for research data. It examines the legal requirements for different kinds of usage of research data in an open access infrastructure, such as OpenAIREplus, which links them to publications. The existing legal framework regarding potentially relevant intellectual property (IP) rights is analysed from the general European perspective as well as from that of selected EU Member States. Various examples and usage scenarios are used to explain the scope of protection of the potentially relevant IP rights. In addition different licence models are analysed in order to identify the licence that is best suited to the aim of open access, especially in the context of the infrastructure of OpenAIREplus. Based on the outcomes of these analyses, some recommendations to the European legislator as well as data- and e-infrastructure providers are given on improving the rights situation in relation to research data.

Although open content licences only account for a fraction of all copyright licences currently in force in the copyright world, the mentality change initiated by the open content movement is here to stay. To promote the use of open content licences, it is important to better understand the theoretical underpinnings of these licences, as well as to gain insight on the practical advantages and inconveniences of their use. This book assembles chapters written by renowned European scholars on a number of selected issues relating to open content licensing. It offers a comprehensive and objective study of the principles of open content from a European intellectual property law perspective and of their possible implementation in the areas of scientific publishing, of the re-use of government information, of the dissemination of works held by cultural heritage institutions and of the exercise of rights on music phonograms.

An issue which recently has gained increased attention from legislators is how to stimulate the digitization and online availability of the collections held by libraries, museums and other cultural institutions – sometimes referred to as our "common heritage" – and at the same time give full respect to established copyright norms. At European level, this attention is evident in the Digital Libraries Initiative, the Communication from the European Commission on Copyright in the Knowledge Economy, the Commission's Digital Agenda for Europe and its recent Communication on a Single Market for Intellectual Property Rights. Inherent in these policy documents is the recognition that the new information technologies have created vast opportunities to make the common heritage of Europe more accessible for users online. It is also a shared belief that such access – if coherent with basic copyright principles – will befor the mutual benefit of users, right holders and the society at large. In line with this the Commission has supported the creation and development of a common access point for Europe's cultural heritage, Europeana. However, several issues from a copyright perspective have to be solved before undertaking mass-digitization and online dissemination of the collections held by these institutions. One of them is how to make the said digitization and online dissemination lawful from a copyright perspective. To the extent that an item in a cultural institution's collection is (still) protected by copyright, those acts fall under the author's exclusive right to authorize and prohibit use of his or her work. As the administrative ("transaction") costs of finding and negotiating an individual license with every right holder would rise to astronomical levels, there is an obvious risk that major parts of the collections will not be digitized and disseminated online. For this reason, the most practical solution would probably lie in the area of collective rights management. A way forward is the extended collective license (ECL) model as established and developed in the Nordic countries. The essential component of the ECL model is that it extends a freely negotiated agreement between a Collective Management Organization (CMO) and a user so that it binds also non-members' rights, sometimes referred to as "outsiders' rights". The legal implication of this extension effect is that the agreement not only gives the user the right to use outsider's rights without any risk of civil remedies but that that it also provides full limitation against criminal sanctions. To safeguard the outsiders' interests, the legally supported extended effect only occurs provided that certain conditions have been met. These conditions are, mainly, outsiders' possibility to opt out, equal treatment vis-à-vis members of the organization and receipt of remuneration. There are also conditions related to the representativeness and supervision of the eligible CMOs. The ECL model has been under consideration by the Commission as a possible solution to stimulate the digitization and online availability of the collections held by cultural institutions. An additional challenge is to make the collections available cross-border, i.e. also to other countries (territories) than the one where the cultural institution is located. It is inherent in the policy documents of the European commission and also the establishment of Europeana that there is a clear political aim to stimulate such cross-border dissemination. According to prevalent copyright rules, rights for dissemination online have to be cleared in every country where the content can be accessed. Applied to cultural institutions this means that they would have to get a license from CMOs in every EU member state. This would of course lead to substantial administrative costs for the institutions. However, so far no solution have been brought forward which takes into account and could be acceptable by both cultural institutions and right holders. Two viable cross-border solutions are a country of transmission principle or a solution based on voluntary measures by the national CMOs. A country of transmission principle holds that cultural institutions should only be obliged to obtain a license in the country where the institution initiated the online dissemination. This solution would require legislative intervention at EU level. The other solution essentially means that national CMOs would give each other a mandate to issue multi-territory licenses. At first glance, an ECL provision combined with either of the cross-border solutions outlined above may be regarded as favoring the cultural institutions' interests, as it gives them the privilege of both an ECL provision and a simplified measure for cross-border rights clearance. However, the scope of an ECL provision for the benefit of these institutions would primarily be to make available content that is not of a contemporary commercial nature. Hence, the model would aim at establishing a mechanism which would create a supply of cultural heritage content. It is in the interest of the society as a whole that also this content is made available online.

Although open content licences only account for a fraction of all copyright licences currently in force in the copyright world, the mentality change initated by the open content movement is here to stay. To promote the use of open content licences, it is important to better understand the theoretical underpinnings of these licences, as well as to gain insight on the practical advantages and inconveniences of their use. This book assembles chapters written by renowned European scholars on a number of selected issues relating to open content licensing. It offers a comprehensive and objective study of the principles of open content from a European intellectual property law perspective and of their possible implementation in the areas of scientific publishing, of the re-use of government information, of the dissemination of works held by cultural heritage institutions and of the exercise of rights on music phonograms.