Find here all 18 studies and position papers authored by members and friends of COMMUNIA. Our policy papers analyse the impact of current legislation or legislative proposals on the Public Domain and are published irregularly.
Background Individuals and organisations who frequently interact with copyright-protected material in a professional capacity are often overwhelmed when it comes to determining what they may or may not do. They may be forced to make complicated choices between potentially risking to infringe copyright or passing up on opportunities to create or preserve knowledge by not […]
The argument in brief Published research outputs often end up locked behind paywalls, unavailable to many researchers and the broader public, impeding scientific – and human – progress. Despite progress in the area of open science, research funded by the European public is no exception to this. In many cases, European taxpayers are essentially asked […]
Background Public sector documents and public speeches are of key concern to the public. New legislation and court decisions lay down the rules that govern our daily lives, and provide obligations and privileges to people who need to be aware of their presence in order to act upon them. Public documents produced by the executive […]
Background We have witnessed a proliferation of (so-called) generative artificial intelligence (AI) models since OpenAI made DALL-E 2 available to the public in July 2022. This has gone alongside a renewed interest in questions about the relationship between machine learning (ML) and copyright law — as evidenced by a surge in publications on the topic […]
May 20201 – (This policy paper is also available as a PDF file) COMMUNIA Policy Paper on fundamental rights as a limit to copyright during emergencies Exceptions and limitations to copyright should support education, research and other public interest activities that need to take place remotely during emergencies that fundamentally disrupt the normal organization of […]
January 2018 – (This policy paper is also available as a PDF file) COMMUNIA policy paper on the review of the PSI Directive In 2003 the Directive 2003/98/EC on the reuse of public sector information (2003 Directive) came into effect and obliged EU Member States to make information and resources that they produce and collect reusable to […]
August 2017 – (This policy paper is also available as a PDF file) COMMUNIA policy paper on the EU Database Directive This policy paper is released in the context of the European Commission’s public consultation on the application and impact of the Directive 96/9/EU on the legal protection of databases (Database Directive). The Directive aimed […]
January 2016 – (This policy paper is also available as a PDF file) COMMUNIA policy paper on exceptions and limitations for education Copyright policy needs to empower—and not thwart—the activities of teaching and learning. Exceptions and limitations to copyright for education should support necessary access and re-use of copyrighted content of all types in a […]
May 2015 – (This policy paper is also available as a PDF file) Licensing alone will not secure user rights Culture, education and science require a “breathing space” within the copyright system. In this space, secured by exceptions and limitations, we learn, create art, appreciate culture and conduct research. It is also in this space […]
March 2015 – (This policy paper is also available as a PDF file) The mission of the COMMUNIA Association is to educate about, advocate for, offer expertise and research about the public domain in the digital age within society and with policy-makers. It draws on our Progressive Agenda for the Digital Public Domain and from […]
