Hi everyone,
The Swedish parliament just voted (a few hours ago) on the final
implementation of the EU Copyright Directive in Swedish law. The vote
passed, which of course embeds all the issues with the EU Copyright
Directive in Swedish law, but also brings the good parts.
I'd especially like to mention one thing that I'm very happy that we
succeeded with in our advocacy: to broaden the so called Article 14, often
phrased as the the 'safeguarding of the public domain', in the Swedish
implementation.
The EU Copyright Directive states that no new copyright or related right
can be applied on digitizations / digital reproductions of 'works of visual
art' – a practice which has been fairly common in Sweden. Based on our
feedback and advocacy towards Swedish government and parliament, it was
however broadened to 'works of art', which certainly includes everything in
the grey zone between what could be defined as work of art and work of
visual art respectively (such as applied arts, handicraft, probably also
manuscripts etc.).
In Sweden, the creation of the kinds of art works just mentioned have
historically been dominated by women – which also means that we have a much
stronger legal framework for making women's art visible online in Sweden.
This will mean a whole new opportunity for working with the digitization of
the Swedish cultural heritage.
Happy to reply to any questions on this (or anything else about the Swedish
implementation, of course).
Best,
*Eric Luth*
Projektledare engagemang och påverkan | Project Manager, Involvement and
Advocacy
Wikimedia Sverige
eric.luth(a)wikimedia.se
+46 (0) 765 55 50 95
Stöd fri kunskap, bli medlem i Wikimedia Sverige.
Läs mer på blimedlem.wikimedia.se