COMMUNIA

Together with our partners++PartnersOur closest partners within COMMUNIA are Centrum Cyfrowe (Poland) and Creative Commons (US). in COMMUNIA we advocate for policies that expand the public domain and increase access to and reuse of culture and knowledge. COMMUNIA seeks to limit the scope of exclusive copyright to sensible proportions that do not place unnecessary restrictions on access and use.

Through COMMUNIA we engage in policy discussions, offer expertise, and create awareness about the importance of the public domain. Our activities include publications, meetings, conferences, projects, contributions to consultations, studies and representation towards institutions in Brussels and other European capitals.

Over the past few years we have established COMMUNIA as a recognisable voice which argues for the need of a true modernisation of the EU copyright rules, seeks to increase access to culture and information and strengthens the public domain. As part of this we are actively participating in the discussionsThrough COMMUNIA we engage in policy discussions, offer expertise, and create awareness about the importance of the public domain. related to the EU commission’s proposals aimed at adapting the EU copyright rules to the needs of a Digital Single Market.

The COMMUNIA association is a Brussels-based international association that brings together activists, researchers and practitioners from Universities and NGOs across Europe. COMMUNIA’s work is based on and inspired by the Public Domain Manifesto and a set of 14 policy recommendations derived from the manifesto. Since 2014 COMMUNIA has focussed its activities on the review of the EU copyright framework and we are currently (January 2017) working on the following issues++Copyright advocacyWhile COMMUNIA also advocates for better access to digitised cultural heritage, Kennisland works on this issue as part of Europeana. Read more.

Text and data mining

Text and data mining involves deriving information from large amounts of text or data. It can be used as a research tool. Simply searching through a text using CTRL-f (or CMD-f) is a form of mining. COMMUNIA believes that text and data mining of lawfully accessible materials should be possible for anyone for any purpose.COMMUNIA believes that text and data mining of lawfully accessible materials should be possible for anyone for any purpose. Sadly, this is not the case. The current legal proposals on this topic state that text and data mining can only be undertaken by established research organisations (like universities) without prior permission. We believe that everyone should be able to mine the text that they have lawful access too.

Read the COMMUNIA position paper on text and data mining here.

Copyright Reform for Education

The current copyright directive provides a special copyright exception++Copyright exceptionsKennisland created a high-level overview of all implemented exceptions and limitations in the EU called CopyrightExceptions.eu. for education. This exception for education is not a mandatory rule within the EU member states. Therefore, this has been implemented differently in all 28 members states, resulting in 28 different legal regimes. COMMUNIA favours a mandatory exception to avoid legal uncertainty for teachersCOMMUNIA favours a mandatory exception to avoid legal uncertainty for teachers., both within the classroom and online.

Read the COMMUNIA position paper on Copyright Reform for Education here.

Transformative use

COMMUNIA wants copyright to protect outcomes of creative processes. It believes that transformative uses of quotes and samples are not the same as merely copying content. Remixes, mashups and other transformative uses of content have become an essential part of the digital age. COMMUNIA wants acknowledgement COMMUNIA wants copyright to protect outcomes of creative processes.for transformative use of content and its recognition as something other than replicating content.

Ancillary copyright for press publications

Modern digital technologies and the Internet brought fundamental changes to business models of publishers. COMMUNIA believes that copyright and business models need to evolve with technology. The European Commission has proposed to introduce a new right specifically for press publishers to limit the use of ‘snippets’ without prior permission. COMMUNIA believes that granting more rights to the publishing sector to restrict sharing and linking will have negative consequences and should be prevented.COMMUNIA believes that granting more rights to the publishing sector to restrict sharing and linking should be prevented.

Read the COMMUNIA position paper on ancillary copyright for press publishers here.

Freedom of panorama

Freedom of panorama refers to the right to visually document works of architecture, sculptures, street art, or other copyrighted works in public space. COMMUNIA believes that freedom of panorama is a fundamental element of how Europeans engage with their surroundings, cultural heritage and visual history, and that it should be recognised as an exception on copyright justified by freedom of expression and public interest in all member states.

Read the COMMUNIA position paper on freedom of panorama here.

Please refer to the COMMUNIA website for the most up-to-date information. If you are looking for information about the COMMUNIA network project, please refer to this page. 

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