Response to the discussion paper on the implementation of the Copyright Directive in Germany

On 31 January 2020, EARE welcomed the opportunity to refer to the discussion paper of the German Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection transposing Articles 3 to 7, 15 and 16 of the Copyright Directive and related rights in the Digital Market (2019/790).

EARE’s response to the discussion welcomes the government’s support for a broad and binding TDM exemption in its discussion paper. The proposed text in the draft is a good start to ensure that the new copyright law reflects the reality of the 21st century research and also provides much needed clarity for all companies involved in TDM to encourage innovation across the single market.

Among the main points, in Article 3, we welcome the strict implementation of the Copyright Directive. However, we would like to emphasize the following points where the objectives of the Directive fall short in the draft in our opinion:

– Research institutions should be able to share the results of their research based on the application of machine learning and not just for “quality review“.

– We would also welcome clarity on the modalities for sharing the results of data mining research. Researchers must be able to share their data and the results of machine learning without fear of infringing copyright.

– Although we welcome the draft in 60d(5), the issue of storing data through data mining by “trusted entities” should be carefully considered.

To read EARE’s full response to the discussion paper on the implementation of the Copyright Directive in Germany, you can check here.