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Wed Nov 6 16:20:37 CET 2013

age' should follow these examples and reform current copyright legislation.
It is worth noting that these examples only address non-commercial uses by
private individuals and as such do not unreasonably restrict the ability of
rights holders to negotiate licenses for commercial uses that platforms
make of the works in question.

As stated above, such actions need to be integrated into a full review of
the EU copyright directive that also looks at the issues that have been
adressed in other working groups (such as Text and Data Mining) and issues
that have been left outside of the scope of the Licenses for Europe process
(such as use of protected materials for educational activities).

 - Centrum Cyfrowe
 - EDRI
 - Kennisland
 - Modern Poland Foundation
 - La Quadrature du Net

* References *

1.
https://www.laquadrature.net/en/the-eu-commissions-outrageous-attempt-to-av=
oid-copyright-reform

2. http://centrumcyfrowe.pl/

3. http://www.edri.org/

4. http://www.kennisland.nl/

5. http://nowoczesnapolska.org.pl/

** About la Quadrature du Net **

La Quadrature du Net is an advocacy group that defends the rights and
freedoms of citizens on the Internet. More specifically, it advocates for
the adaptation of French and European legislations to respect the founding
principles of the Internet, most notably the free circulation of knowledge.

In addition to its advocacy work, the group also aims to foster a better
understanding of legislative processes among citizens. Through specific and
pertinent information and tools, La Quadrature du Net hopes to encourage
citizens' participation in the public debate on rights and freedoms in the
digital age.

La Quadrature du Net is supported by French, European and international
NGOs including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Open Society
Institute and Privacy International.

List of supporting organisations:
https://www.laquadrature.net/en/they-support-la-quadrature-du-net

** Press contact and press room **

J=E9r=E9mie Zimmermann, jz at laquadrature.net, +33 (0)615 940 675

http://www.laquadrature.net/en/press-room

_______________________________________________
Opennetcoalition mailing list
Opennetcoalition at laquadrature.net
https://laquadrature.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/opennetcoalition

--=20
P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net

<http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Update=
s:
http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

#82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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<div dir=3D"ltr"><br><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded me=
ssage ----------<br>From: <b class=3D"gmail_sendername">La Quadrature du Ne=
t</b> <span dir=3D"ltr">&lt;<a href=3D"mailto:jz at laquadrature.net">jz at laqua=
drature.net</a>&gt;</span><br>
Date: Wed, Nov 13, 2013 at 1:22 PM<br>Subject: [opennetcoalition] Failure o=
f &quot;Licenses for Europe&quot; Underlines the Need for Reform of the EU =
Copyright Framework<br>To: <a href=3D"mailto:opennetcoalition at laquadrature.=
net">opennetcoalition at laquadrature.net</a><br>
<br><br>Themes: COPYRIGHT, LICENCES FOR EUROPE, MICHEL BARNIER, EU COMMISSI=
ON, JOINT PRESS RELEASE<br>
<br>
JOINT PRESS RELEASE =96 For immediate release<br>
<br>
Permanent link: <a href=3D"https://www.laquadrature.net/en/failure-of-licen=
ses-for-europe-underlines-the-need-for-reform-of-the-eu-copyright-framework=
" target=3D"_blank">https://www.laquadrature.net/en/failure-of-licenses-for=
-europe-underlines-the-need-for-reform-of-the-eu-copyright-framework</a><br=
>

Failure of &quot;Licenses for Europe&quot; Underlines the Need for Reform o=
f the EU Copyright Framework 
 
 
 
*** Brussels, 13 November 2013 =97 Ahead of the last meeting of the =93Lice=
nces for Europe=94 [1] initiative, five European citizen organisations =96 =
Centrum Cyfrowe [2], EDRI [3], Kennisland [4], Modern Poland Foundation [5]=
, and La Quadrature du Net =96 release the following joint press release re=
affirming the urgent need of an European Copyright reform. ***

** Failure of &quot;Licenses for Europe&quot; underlines the need for refor=
m of the EU copyright framework ** 
 
Today, the Licenses for Europe experiment comes to an end. This initiative,=
 launched almost a year ago was ostensibly an attempt to &#39;explore the p=
otential and limits of innovative licensing and technological solutions in =
making EU copyright law and practice fit for the digital age&#39;.

At the end of this process we are compelled to conclude that 10 months of m=
eetings have largely failed to identify any solutions which can be backed b=
y all, or even the majority of, stakeholders involved. It is evident that t=
here is very little consensus among stakeholders about the appropriate appr=
oach to making EU copyright law and practice fit for the digital age. It is=
 unclear as to how licensing solutions can provide a significant improvemen=
t to a copyright system that has been widely recognised as being inefficien=
t and out of date.

As a result, and as many stakeholders have been arguing for years, it is lo=
ng past time that the European Commission initiated a full review of the ex=
isting copyright framework to identify areas where legislative changes are =
needed. We call on the Commission to stop delaying this urgent step, to pro=
ceed now, and to waste no additional time in further discussion on whether =
or not legislative action is necessary.

In real policy making terms this means that the copyright directive must be=
 analysed by reopening the list of possible exceptions, and reviewing each =
individual exception to determine if and how they need to be adapted to the=
 changed environment. As all of the exceptions are, by definition, complian=
t with the 3-step-test, they should be made mandatory, in order to avoid an=
 unnecessary restriction on access to culture and freedom of communication.=

* &#39;User Generated Content&#39; * 
 
Our organisations participated in Working Group 2 of the stakeholder dialog=
ue on &#39;User-generated Content and Licensing for Small-scale Users of Pr=
otected Material&#39;. From the start this working group has struggled to i=
dentify, let alone agree, a (set of) problem(s) that need to be addressed:<=
br>

<br>
Civil society groups and representatives of users have stressed the need to=
 have clearly established rights for European citizens that allow them to c=
reate and share works that include protected works from third parties.<br>

The representatives of rights holders have insisted that this is not necess=
ary. Instead they have advocated an approach where rights holders license t=
heir works to platform operators, which would in turn allow users of these =
platforms to share such works via these platforms.

<br>
Given the focus of the Licenses for Europe process on &#39;innovative licen=
sing and technological solutions&#39; and the explicit refusal of the Commi=
ssion to allow any discussion of other approaches the stakeholder dialogue =
proved itself to be incapable of even attempting to reconcile these differe=
nt approaches.<br>

It has however clearly shown that the general approach of facilitating the =
agreement of licensing arrangements between rights holders and platform ope=
rators does not produce outcomes that address the needs of the public and o=
ther non-industry stakeholders such as institutions in the public sector. I=
n the current technological environment, copyright affects ordinary citizen=
s and many professionals, such as teachers and cultural heritage profession=
als, that are not represented by the two industries that Commission=92s app=
roach suggests are the only legitimate stakeholders. There are user rights =
at stake in this discussion that are extremely important in fields other th=
an popular culture, in particular in education, but also for political expr=
ession and democratic participation.

Looking back, it is difficult to view the proceedings of Working Group 2 as=
 anything other than a fundamentally undemocratic attempt to subjugate the =
ability of citizens to express themselves through digital media to the outc=
ome of licensing negotiations between rights holders and platform operators=
. Such a process does not create rights, it would simply authorise certain =
forms of expression on the terms of rights holders.

* Looking forward * 
 
This means that the discussion needs to shift to the question of how we can=
 best guarantee the right of European citizens to make transformative use o=
f protected materials, in order to express themselves via digital media. Ca=
nada has recently introduced an exception for such uses into its copyright =
law. Member states such as the Netherlands are currently exploring the poss=
ibility of broadening an existing exception to achieve the same effect.

<br>