Research Groups Seek Stronger Protections In EU Copyright Reform Proposal

European lawmakers should boost protections for researchers and educators in the European Commission proposal for a directive on copyright in the digital single market, five research organisations said today. Among other things, lawmakers and policymakers must rethink the provisions on text and data mining as well as the exception for use of works in digital and cross-border teaching, they said.

The statement by the Association of European Research Libraries (LIBER), Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Education and Research, European University Association, League of European Research Universities and Science Europe is here.

Text and data mining (TDM) enables researchers to derive information from machine-readable material and is necessary for dealing with a vast amount of data and publications, the groups said. The proposed directive introduces a mandatory exception for TDM but it’s limited to research organisations for the purposes of scientific research when it should be redrafted to allow any individual or organisation with legal access to the content to use digital technologies to mine that content, they said.

Another concern is Article 4 of the proposed directive, which introduces an exception for the use of works and other subject matter in digital and cross-border teaching activities. However, LIBER and the others said, the provision narrows the scope of the exception that already exists in the information society directive and will restrict the exception to digital outputs.

Among other things, the organisations also criticised the proposed directive for not addressing document supply, which would give researchers access to resources beyond the collections held by individual institutions. They also opposed moves to protect linking to content under copyright law (ancillary copyright).