[A2k] Dugie Standeford: "EU Copyright Group Seeks Solutions to Digitisation Roadblocks" (orphan works)

[Manon Ress]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=3D591&res=3D1280_ff&print=3D0

By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch

Problems related to digital preservation, orphan works and out-of-
print materials must be resolved if European Commission plans to
digitise and make accessible Europe=92s cultural heritage are to
succeed, copyright experts said in an 18 April report.

The Digital Libraries project is part of a Commission drive to boost
jobs and growth by making Europe the most knowledge-based economy in
the world by 2010. Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane
Reding formed the High Level Expert Group on Digital Libraries (HLG)
last year to help solve online copyright issues. Members of its
copyright subgroup, which published the report, include rights owners
and libraries.

The HLG report provides =93practical solutions=94 to key issues, the
document said. Those solutions rely more on voluntary agreements than
on regulatory proposals.

Digital Preservation

Digitisation may be the only way to ensure that cultural material is
available in the future, the report said. Some EU countries permit
libraries and other institutions to make a single copy of a work for
preservation purposes, but that exception to copyright=92s exclusive
reproduction right =93may prove insufficient=94 as recording media become
technologically obsolete and content must be shifted to other
formats. Moreover, audiovisual digital material may be shorter-lived
than analogue media, the report said.

The HLG recommended that where EU states allow an exception for
digital copies, and where copies are made solely for preservation,
rights-owners should authorise publicly accessible libraries,
educational institutions, museums and archives to make more than one
copy if necessary to ensure preservation of the work. Successive
copying should be permitted if and when technological developments
require it, for preservation only, the report said.

Other recommendations included permitting preservation only for works
no longer commercially available in any format; coordinating the
various European preservation initiatives at regional and EU level;
and allowing copy protection devices in born-digital works deposited
in national deposit libraries to be disabled for the libraries=92, but
not users=92, purposes.

Orphan Works

Content whose owners cannot be identified or located, is hampering
work on large-scale digitisation, the report said. It concluded
=93unanimously that a solution to the issue of orphan works is
desirable, at least for literary and audiovisual works.=94

Non-legislative solutions might include databases dedicated to
information on orphan works, embedding better rightsholder data in
digital material, and negotiating better contracts between
stakeholders. The panel urged the Commission to persuade member
states to support contractual arrangements =93in a suitable manner,
taking into account the role of cultural establishments.=94

Solutions may differ nationally, but they must fulfil several core
principles, the report said. These include covering all orphan works
on the basis of a common definition, providing guidance on how to
perform a diligent search for a work=92s rights-owners, and allowing
for withdrawal of an orphan work if its owner reappears. Member
states=92 solutions must be interoperable, and must agree to mutual
recognition, the report said.

The panel reviewed several legislative proposals for determining when
the search for the owner of an orphaned work is diligent. It
recommended that potential users of such works be required to
=93conduct a thorough search in good faith.=94 It also urged the
Commission to take a flexible approach to dealing with requirements
for searches for orphan works due to the rapid change in information
sources and search techniques. Finally, it said any solution should
apply to all kinds of works.

Out-of-Print Content

The report defined out-of-print works as those not commercially
available, as declared by the appropriate rights holders. It
recommended a four-prong solution that includes a model licence,
establishment of a database of such works, a joint clearance centre
and a procedure to clear rights.

The licence grants libraries a non-exclusive, non-transferable right
to digitise a work and make it available to users in closed networks.
It grants rights holders the right to payment which they may waive.
An author or publisher retains copyright in the work and its
digitised version and can revoke the licence at any time. The
licensor may also require libraries to provide information on the use
of the work to assess its commercial potential, but must reimburse
the library=92s costs if it withdraws any part of the material and the
withdrawn portion represents more than 10 percent of a title.

The licence was specifically developed to take into account
libraries=92 needs and publishers=92 requirements, said Olav Stokkmo,
secretary-general of the International Federation of Reproduction
Rights Organisations, a member of the copyright subgroup. It will
likely be applicable to other sectors as well, including the
audiovisual industry, he said.

Group members considered the model licence the most complicated part
of their work, Stokkmo said. Now they hope the Commission,
international federations and other associations will publicize it on
their websites, so that it can be used as publishers and libraries
negotiate digital copy agreements.

The approach favoured by the copyright subgroup =93based on widespread
agreements between libraries and rights holders looks promising if
they manage to make the user interests a priority,=94 Reding said.

Dugie Standeford may be reached at info@ip-watch.ch.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. All of the
news articles and features on Intellectual Property Watch are also
subject to a Creative Commons License which makes them available for
widescale, free, non-commercial reproduction and translation.


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Manon Anne Ress
manon.ress@keionline.org,
www.cptech.org

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