The European Commission just ran a consultation on the future of copyright in Europe. The response was an avalanche of opinions. In this open editorial, Sebastian Haunss imagines what's next.
News articles on INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
The District Court of Munich ruled on February 25 that YouTube cannot blame German royalty collecting society GEMA for content blocked on its platform.
“Digital” is written big in the coalition agreement, which was signed to give way to the new German government. Will this propell Germany onto the front seat in international internet politics.
There is user-generated content in many shapes – from musicians setting up their own labels, funded and supported by users to remixes of the latest political campaign slogans. What is still pending, is a genuine European copyright reform which would address this type of content.
Russian internet industry and civil society groups bite back at newest law designed to protect corporations holding rights to audiovisual material.
Fans who engage in the subtitling of motion pictures have been prosecuted on several occasions. A recent case in Sweden results in yet another discussion: do the actions of fans violate copyright?
It looks like a negotiated revolution: members of the World Intellectual Property Organization signed a treaty that will allow exemptions from copyright in favour of visually impaired people.
The majority of the European Parliament welcomed the start of the negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership – a EU-US free trade agreement - in a resolution released in Strasbourg on May 15. The Green Party wanted more conditions to avoid a potential degradation of European standards in data protection. European civil rights organisations warn against a mega-ACTA-like free trade agreement.
In Europe, education and free knowledge are subject to political restrictions that can only be effectively changed on the EU level. Wikimedia, the not-for-profit organisation behind the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, believes this. The organisation could therefore soon open an office in Brussels to participate in the future debates about a European knowledge society. Nikolas Becker is a member of the board of Wikimedia Germany. Using three concise examples, he explains why and where he sees need for action.