EARE’s position on the Plenary vote on the Copyright Directive

Download our statement here: EARE_Statement_EP Plenary Vote_Copyright Directive

The European Alliance for Research Excellence (EARE) warmly welcomes the decision of MEPs to reject the mandate to enter into interinstitutional negotiations on the Copyright Directive on the basis of the report adopted by the Legal Affairs (JURI) Committee on 20 June.

We are convinced that a better Text and Data Mining (TDM) exception (article 3) can be found, one that protects both the legitimate interests of rightsholders and the right for anyone with legal access to the underlying work to engage in a TDM for any purpose.

EARE member Lenard R. Koschwitz (Director for European Affairs at Allied for Startups) said “It is encouraging that Members of the European Parliament realised the proposed TDM exception was falling short of our ambitions for European research and innovation. To secure the success of Europe’s research and innovation ecosystem, we need a broad mandatory exception that would provide legal certainty and reduce market fragmentation”.

We believe that the text of the very first compromise amendment for article 3 put forward by the rapporteur, MEP Axel Voss, is an appropriate basis to encourage research and innovation in Europe. With TDM being the foundation of Artificial Intelligence (AI), we need a copyright framework that allows Europe to look towards the future rather than the past.

We call on the European Parliament to revise article 3 at the next September plenary session, to propose and adopt a future-proof, broad mandatory exception for TDM for all parties that have lawful access to the underlying work. Only with such an exception will we be able to succeed in our shared ambitions for Europe to become a global leader in AI and data analytics.

—

About EARE

The European Alliance for Research Excellence (EARE) is a coalition supported by BSA | The Software Alliance, Allied for Startups, Research Libraries UK, SCONUL (Society of College, National and University Libraries) and UCL (University College London) Library, advocating for the EU to live up to its innovation potential in the digital economy. The coalition is calling on the EU to include a broader TDM exception in its current copyright reform.

For questions please contact:  Mathilde Bouvier – eare@apcoworldwide.com – www.eare.eu  – +32 2 645 9852