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Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
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EC floats idea for Internet copyright
Source: Agencies |
October 20, 2009, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE European Commission said yesterday it may revise copyright law to make it easier for companies like Google Inc to scan printed books and distribute digital copies over the Internet.
Such changes would likely include ways to more easily compensate authors and publishers, possibly through a statutory license in which a company would automatically get rights to scanning and would pay royalties to a collective pool.
Money from that pool would be distributed to copyright holders.
Under Europe's copyright laws, rights are now managed separately in each of the European Union's 27 nations, making it difficult to seek permission to republish or digitize content, especially when the rights holder is hard to find.
The EC said it would start work next year, with the goal of encouraging mass-scale digitization and suggesting ways for compensating copyright holders. Any suggested changes to European law would have to be approved by EU governments and lawmakers.
The commission said the move was partly triggered by a hearing it held in September where European authors, publishers, libraries and technology companies spoke out about how they would be affected by a deal Google is negotiating in the US.
Google has been scanning millions of books still under US copyright. Under a tentative settlement with US authors and publishers, that will cover all books unless copyright holders object.
Such changes would likely include ways to more easily compensate authors and publishers, possibly through a statutory license in which a company would automatically get rights to scanning and would pay royalties to a collective pool.
Money from that pool would be distributed to copyright holders.
Under Europe's copyright laws, rights are now managed separately in each of the European Union's 27 nations, making it difficult to seek permission to republish or digitize content, especially when the rights holder is hard to find.
The EC said it would start work next year, with the goal of encouraging mass-scale digitization and suggesting ways for compensating copyright holders. Any suggested changes to European law would have to be approved by EU governments and lawmakers.
The commission said the move was partly triggered by a hearing it held in September where European authors, publishers, libraries and technology companies spoke out about how they would be affected by a deal Google is negotiating in the US.
Google has been scanning millions of books still under US copyright. Under a tentative settlement with US authors and publishers, that will cover all books unless copyright holders object.
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