Posted April 20, 2007.

European Digital Library Group Agrees on Copyright Model

The European Union’s expert group on digital libraries has established a basic model for handling copyright issues with orphan works and out-of-print materials. The model—agreed upon April 18 by representatives of the British Library, the German National Library, the Federation of European Publishers, Google, and other stakeholders—calls on European member states to set up voluntary programs to digitize and make accessible materials that fall into these two categories.

The group recommended that digital copies of orphan works—for whom no copyright holder can be identified—be made available for noncommercial purposes after a thorough search for copyright holders is completed, according to a European Commission press release.

For materials that are out of print but still under copyright, the group proposed that libraries be granted a license that bestows nonexclusive and nontransferable rights to digitize and make their holdings available to users on a closed network of other European libraries, museums, and archives. The library holding the license would collect fees for the use of the work by other institutions and make payments to the rights-holder.

The April 19 EU Observer noted that the amount of the fee was not part of the agreement, but that €1 would likely be the per-use cost. The International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations welcomed the agreement as a breakthrough.

The European Digital Library was proposed in 2005 as a way to make the cultural heritage of member states available to all.

Posted April 20, 2007.