Green Paper on Copyright in the Knowledge Economy

[Jan Szczepanski <jan.szczepanski@ub.gu.se>]

Probably of extreme importance, see this press release from the
European Commission.  Jan

Green Paper on Copyright in the Knowledge Economy

In its review of the Single Market[1] the Commission highlighted
the need to promote free movement of knowledge and innovation as
the "Fifth freedom" in the single market. The Green Paper will
now focus on how research, science and educational materials are
disseminated to the public and whether knowledge is circulating
freely in the internal market. The consultation document will
also look at the issue of whether the current copyright framework
is sufficiently robust to protect knowledge products and whether
authors and publishers are sufficiently encouraged to create and
disseminate electronic versions of these products.

This consultation is targeted at everyone who wants to advance
their knowledge and educational levels by using the Internet.
Wide dissemination of knowledge contributes to more inclusive and
cohesive societies, fosters equal opportunities in line with the
priorities of the renewed Social Agenda.

With this Green Paper, the Commission plans to have a structured
debate on the long-term future of copyright policy in the
knowledge intensive areas. In particular, the Green Paper is an
attempt to structure the copyright debate as it relates to
scientific publishing, the digital preservation of Europe's
cultural heritage, orphan works, consumer access to protected
works and the special needs for the disabled to participate in
the information society. The Green Paper points to future
challenges in the fields of scientific and scholarly publishing,
search engines and special derogations for libraries, researchers
and disabled people. The Green paper focuses not only on the
dissemination of knowledge for research, science and education
but also on the current legal framework in the area of copyright
and the possibilities it can currently offer to a variety of
users (social institutions, museums, search engines, disabled
people, teaching establishments).

Opinions expressed here are my own and not that of Goteborgs
universitetsbibliotek

Jan Szczepanski
Forste bibliotekarie
Goteborgs universitetsbibliotek
SE 405 30 Goteborg, SWEDEN
Tel: +46 31 7861164 Fax: +46 31 163797
E-mail: Jan.Szczepanski@ub.gu.se








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