Civil society calls for inclusion in the EP Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights and Copyright Reform

Ensuring a Balanced Representation of Views in the EP Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights and Copyright Reform

You can download the letter here (pdf).

17 March 2015

Dear Mr Cavada,

dear Members of the Working Group on IPRs and Copyright Reform,

The signatories to this open statement follow the work of the Working Group (WG) on Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and Copyright Reform with great interest. The President of the European Commission has identified copyright reform as a key priority and we fully agree that it needs to be part of the Digital Single Market strategy.

Copyright reform will require political support. Hence, we commend the aim of the WG to provide a forum in which views can be exchanged and priorities identified.

However, we would like to express our concern with regard to the lack of diversity of expert speakers and the corresponding representation of views. In the digital age, copyright impacts a great variety of stakeholders. Apart from established copyright industries and authors, it is of great relevance to citizens, consumers, cultural heritage institutions, libraries, researchers, universities and the Internet industries. It is also of fundamental importance to creators who are taking advantage of new, digital opportunities and who are not represented by traditional copyright industries.

In that context, we call on the WG to make sure that these views are appropriately represented in the upcoming meetings. Making copyright rules future-proof requires a holistic approach. This can only be achieved if the full spectrum of stakeholders is adequately represented and given a chance to speak in front of Members of Parliament who will ultimately be tasked with passing new copyright legislation.

We trust that the work in the WG will help in adapting copyright to the realities of a digital economy in which a great number of stakeholders is affected by copyright legislation. The signatories to this statement would be happy to recommend speakers for the upcoming meetings of the WG in order to guarantee more balance in views.

We thank you for your time and consideration.

With kind regards,

Benedetto Liberati
President,
Associazione Nazionale Stampa Online (ANSO)

Giuseppe De Martino
President,
l’Association des Services Internet Communautaires (ASIC)

Constantin Gissler
Head of Brussels Office,
BITKOM

Anna Mazgal
Managing Director,
Centrum Cyfrowe Projekt: Polska

Alek Tarkowski
President,
Communia

Jakob Kucharczyk
Director,
Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA)

Caroline DeCock
Coordinator,
Copyright for Creativity (C4C)

John Higgins
Director General,
DigitalEurope

Klaus-Peter Böttger
President,
European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations (EBLIDA)

Jeremy Malcolm
Senior Global Policy Analyst,
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

Innocenzo Genna
Chair, Innovation and Growth Committee,
EuroISPA

Siada El Ramly
Director General,
European Digital Media Association (EDiMA)

Joe McNamee
Executive Director,
European Digital Rights (EDRi)

Rainer Kuhlen
Chair,
European Network for Copyright in support of Education & Science (ENCES)

Dr. Till Kreutzer
Founder & Director,
Initiative gegen ein Leistungsschutzrecht (IGEL)

Sinikka Sipilä
President,
International Federation of Library Associations & Institutions (IFLA)

Jake Beaumont-Nesbitt
Policy Director,
International Music Managers Forum (IMMF)

Kristiina Hormia-Poutanen
President,
Association of European Research Libraries (LIBER)

Naomi Korn,
Chair,
Libraries & Archives Copyright Alliance (LACA)

Jarosław Lipszyc
President,
Modern Poland Foundation

David Vuillaume
Chair,
Network of European Museum Organizations (NEMO)

Maël Brunet
Director,
OpenForum Europe (OFE)

Dimitar Dimitrov
Wikimedian in Brussels / Board Member,
Wikimedia Belgium

Simona Levi
Co-founder,
Xnet