I can think of a few cases and issues to consider here:

Hello again, since this is a mailing list and no one really wants to read long stories I will try to recap the day and the positions in a nutshell. It was basically a meeting with a long speech by the Commissioner for Internal Market and Services Michel Barnier and a short speech by conservative MEP Marielle Gallo. Barnier naturally started how this was this beginning of the process of legsilative process, how they are open to discuss everything and work with everyone. Of course he didn't miss to stress how important the creative industry is to the economy, and while the internet has brought a lot of positives (like giving more people access to quality content) but also a lot of problems (it doesn't cover the investments that authors, editors and production companies have to make to create the content) About the *legislation strategy*: * Let the industry and stakeholders find solutions themselves. * Be prepared to legislate wherever necessary. Review the "society and information" directive from 2011 if needed. His *vision* of copyright has three major points: 1. Make it easier for Europeans to access their *cultural heritage*. Here the project Europeana and the Orphan Works Directive (which doesn't allow commercial use, thus Wikimedia can't profit from it) are mentioned as positive projects. 2. Make it possible for Europeans to access content across the single market. *Remove geographically limited licenses* within the EU, since the EU is a single market and such geographical limitation are illegal for other products. 3. Reform copyright in a way to *allow* *authors to earn an**income *and attracts investment in the creation of quality content. Worth mentioning is that he stressed several times that he is not ideologically burdened and open to any exceptions and propositions, *even exceptions in copyright*. Here the position of MEP Gallo was the absolute opposite as she stressed that she is not talking of adapting the copyright itself, but the way it works. Back to the Commission, they have started an initiative they call "Licensing Europe", which should start a dialogue that lasts until the end of 2013 to come up with very specific solution to cope with the legitimate frustrations of consumers, companies and citizens. The Commission has identified six questions around which the debates should be structured: 1. Cross-border portability of content services. 2. Online access to audiovisual works. 3. Digitalisation and access to European films. 4. The judicial insecurity regarding the reuse of content online. Consideration of one-click policies. 5. Questions raised by new search technologies and data mining. 6. The private copying levies. To wait for themediation process by Antonio Vitorino. <http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/barnier/headlines/speeches/2011/11/20111123_en.htm> Until New Year the Commission will draw up all the modalities for the "Lincensing Europe" initiative so the process can start in 2013. In the Q&A there were quite some interesting questions (some from the Pirate Party) which didn't really lead to interesting answers. The Commissioner is clearly hoping for some technological solutions for the copyright problems, but is open to other proposals. The question about law enforcement when it comes to copyright was ducked by referring to the broader picture and that any enforcement need to demonstrate values that are felt as legitimate. Sorry for boring you, but reading this is your choice :). For those who are still awake some gossip from the corridors: Apparently the three Commissioners (Internal Market, Digital and Culture/Education) are a bit competitive about who should have the leading role. It is not clear yet who will dominate. For us it would naturally be best to have the latter two, as Barnier is more market oriented, while Vassilakou focuses on culture and education. I will until January try to come up with a set of ideas/proposals/demands, that can hopefully be discussed in the Wikimedia movement (especially the European chapters) and lead to a united and strong position early on in the legislative process. Let's make sure this time we are involved throughout and have real chance of input. I believe after ACTA blew up the Commission will be much more willing to listen and cooperate. Best, Dimi _______________________________________________ Advocacy_Advisors mailing list Advocacy_Advisors(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/advocacy_advisors

Hey Ryan, no there was no talk about that, but it's top on my proposals list. I believe that such a thing simply has the chance to be accepted. The EU right now allows reuse with citations as a general rule, but there might be exceptions in each agency and since they don't use a specific license it can be very confusing to read through the copyright statements. I am just not sure whether it would be better to propose PD or CC-by or just say "free-license". Dimi 2012/12/7 Ryan Kaldari &lt;rkaldari(a)wikimedia.org <mailto:rkaldari@wikimedia.org>> Was there any discussion of free-licensing government-created works? This seems like a worthy objective that doesn't adversely affect any commercial interests (which is the main roadblock to most copyright reform). Ryan Kaldari Wikimedia Foundation _______________________________________________ Advocacy_Advisors mailing list Advocacy_Advisors(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/advocacy_advisors

I will until January try to come up with a set of ideas/proposals/demands, that can hopefully be discussed in the Wikimedia movement (especially the European chapters)

I believe after ACTA blew up the Commission will be much more willing to

Hello Jan, Thank you for your great words and encouragement. I really believe that the more chapters take part, the more chances we will have. Since I am a member I am currently convincing WMAT to join the Transparency Register, since they could put me on the list to get access to the Parliament (daily passes and the like). Since I am currently involved in the founding of WMBE, people here are quite enthusiastic to help. They have contacted WMNL. I was lucky enough to attend a Creative Commons Belgium Relaunch event in Brussels this weekend. The CC people (a law professor from Namur specialising in copyright and a law student from Leuven) are really interested to join and perhaps even have a common position. I also got in touch with some authors' rights representative organisations, but there are a lot of them in Belgium, so it's hard to map them yet. I am thinking now how to pool people's brain power. Mailing list, wiki page and the like. I will set up a ad-hoc wiki page on the WMBE wiki tonight. For now I am sharing a document (personal) where I just throw in the positions of people, parties and groups I have reserached. My goal is to make it into a comprehensive doucment. I will also continue to track and write reports about meetingsa and going-ons here. I completely agree. I am training in a lobbying office now and they are happy to give me some free time to attend events I am interested in, so at least till the end of March I will have it covered. But in the long run it'd be problem. Also, my employer doesn't get me into all the events, since I am not alone, so more Transperency Register registrations would be welcome. This sounds like a great idea. If we go for it I and the local volunteers I met here would be more than happy to organise something (If we opt for Burssels). The benefit of doing it here would be that we could invite people from the institutions. Anwyay, I will keep this thread/mailing list posted about the developments for now. Any feedback or help is always welcome. Cheers, Dimi _______________________________________________ Advocacy_Advisors mailing list Advocacy_Advisors(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/advocacy_advisors