It's copyright week, but also time to respond to EU Public Consultation on copyright
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| Merpel is a great fan of Hawaii |
IPKat readers interested in either holidays or copyright will be aware that copyright reform discussions are taking place a bit everywhere right now, including the US and EU [see here].
Speaking of the former, to mark the anniversary of the anti-SOPA/PIPA protests, a number of organisations (including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Creative Commons, the American Library Association, the Medical Library Association, the Open Knowledge Foundation, and others) has organised Copyright Week, a 6-day event focusing on the discussion and promotion of a number of core principles that - it is believed - should inform copyright reform debate.
They are:
Building and defending a robust public domain - The public domain is our cultural commons and a public trust. Copyright policy should seek to promote, and not diminish, this crucial resource.
Open access - The results of publicly funded research should be made freely available to the public online, to be fully used by anyone, anywhere, anytime.
You bought it, you own it - Copyright policy should foster the freedom to truly own your stuff: to tinker with it, repair it, reuse it, recycle it [Merpel hopes that at least dedicated bins shall be provided], read or watch or launch it on any device, lend it, and then give it away (or re-sell it) when you're done.
Fair use rights - For copyright to achieve its purpose of encouraging creativity and innovation, it must preserve and promote ample breathing space for unexpected and innovative uses.
Getting copyright right - A free and open Internet is essential infrastructure [by the way, have you also checked this out yet?], fostering speech, activism, new creativity and new business models for artists, authors, musicians and other creators. It must not be sacrificed in the name of copyright enforcement.
In parallel to Copyright Week, in Europe it is already reform time, as 5 February is not just the 51th anniversary of the seminal decision of the European Court of Justice in Van Gend & Loos, but also the closing date for responding to the Public Consultation of the European Commission on the review of EU copyright rules [see here].
Fix Copyright! believes in balanced copyright laws that encourage community participation, facilitate economic growth and spur innovation.
It supports: flexible copyright exceptions that enable innovation; fair and proportionate liability for copyright infringement; equitable access to information for educators, libraries, cultural institutions and the wider community; and fair and proportionate incentives for creators.
If you go to Fix Copyright!'s Answering Wizard you can have a fun weekend answering the Public Consultation and - most importantly - you can have your voice heard in such an important debate.
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| Looking for some ideas to celebrate Van Gend & Loos anniversary in style? |
As was announced on the IPKat, at the end of December last a new interest group called Fix Copyright! and composed of a large number of interest groups from across Europe, was launched.
Fix Copyright! believes in balanced copyright laws that encourage community participation, facilitate economic growth and spur innovation.
It supports: flexible copyright exceptions that enable innovation; fair and proportionate liability for copyright infringement; equitable access to information for educators, libraries, cultural institutions and the wider community; and fair and proportionate incentives for creators.Fix Copyright! is against: copyright laws that distort the balance between the interests of rights holders and broader public interest in access to knowledge; and the use of technological or contractual measures to unfairly restrict access to content.
If you go to Fix Copyright!'s Answering Wizard you can have a fun weekend answering the Public Consultation and - most importantly - you can have your voice heard in such an important debate.
You can also follow Fix Copyright! on Twitter here.
