EU White Paper On Copyright Reform Delayed Till Autumn

By Catherine Saez

The European Commission white paper on its ongoing copyright reform will not be available until early fall, a Commission source said this week. Officials had previously indicated that the paper might be published this month.

A leaked draft of the white paper emerged in recent weeks, but it is unclear what further changes might be forthcoming.

The Commission has been working on reform of EU copyright rules with a view of modernising them to fit the needs of the digital age. Following a project “licences for Europe,” and a public consultation launched from December 2013 to March 2014, the EU Commission had hinted that a white paper would be published by summer. [Update] An EU summary of responses [pdf] to the public consultation has been circulated on the A2K listserv.

According to a Commission spokesperson, the white paper is not expected to be published before early autumn.

A draft document [pdf] was leaked on the IPKat blog last month. It looks into several areas, such as the application of rights in digital networks; improving access to information and knowledge for persons with a disability; private copying; providing a legally sound space for user-generated content; fair remuneration of authors and performers; and solutions for mass digitisation.