Hi all,
Yesterday was the last "trilogue" meeting for the year in Strasbourg. As
expected, and despite the claims by EP negotiator Axel Voss and the
Austrian Presidency, the Council and the Parliament weren't able to strike
a deal on Articles 11 & 13 and the next round of negotiations will be in
the second half of January.
We can still end the year on a positive note. The Council and the
Parliament reached an agreement on the "public domain safeguard". They have
both accepted the Commission proposal (which makes sure that digitisations
of public domain works will receive no new copyright or related rights in
the EU). With this, the chapter on exceptions and limitations is closed.
The text agreed upon reads:
*Article 5(1a) - Public domain*
Member States shall provide that, when the term of protection of a work of
visual art has expired, any material resulting from an act of reproduction
of that work shall not be subject to copyright or related rights, unless
the material resulting from that act of reproduction is original in the
sense that it is the author's own intellectual creation.
*(Recital)*
The expiry of the term of protection of a work entails the entry of that
work in the public domain and the expiry of the rights that Union copyright
law provides to that work. In the field of visual arts, the circulation of
faithful reproductions of works in the public domain contributes to the
access to and and promotion of culture (or access to cultural heritage). In
the digital environment the protection of these reproductions through
copyright or related rights is inconsistent with the expiry of the
copyright protection of works. In addition, differences between the
national copyright laws governing the protections of these reproductions
give rise to legal uncertainty and affect the cross-border dissemination of
works of visual arts in the public domain. Therefore, it should be
clarified that certain reproductions of works of visual arts in the public
domain should not be protected by copyright or related rights. This should
not prevent cultural heritage institutions from selling reproductions, such
as postcards.
This is also the first time the term "public domain" will become part of EU
law (even though it is not defined, as some Member States were against
that). Many thanks to everyone making this possible!
Cheers,
Dimi