You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
The European Commission (EC) is to investigate how best to determine copyright and rights clearance of library books in a bid to build Europe's answer to the Google Books Settlement.
The EC has adopted a Communication on Copyright in the Knowledge Economy, which it said will help it to tackle the "cultural and legal challenges of mass scale digitisation".
Viviane Reding, commissioner in charge of information society and media, said: "Europe should seize this opportunity to take the lead, and to ensure that books digitisation takes place on the basis of European copyright law, and in full respect of Europe's cultural diversity.
"Europe, with its rich cultural heritage, has most to offer and most to win from books digitisation. If we act swiftly, pro-competitive European solutions on books digitisation may well be sooner operational than the solutions presently envisaged under the Google Books Settlement in the United States."
Reding said that a priority was to find a solution for orphan works, whose owners cannot be identified or located. The British Library estimates around 40% of its copyrighted collections are orphan works. The EC also hopes to improve access, distribution and availability of works for persons with disabilities.
The commission will hold an impact assessment to examine orphan works in Europe. In a joint statement, Reding and internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy said: "We call on national libraries, collective management organisations and publishers to . . . work with the commission to develop a pro-competitive and pan-European system of book registries that will allow for cross-border licensing under a transparent and affordable pricing system, while ensuring a fair remuneration of authors."