Information resources and copyright: Plenum of Euro Parliament approved a draft EU directive on “Certain permitted uses of orphan works”

Plenum of the European Parliament approved a long-awaited draft of the European Union’s Directive on "Certain permitted uses of orphan works." According to European statistics, for more than 45% of copyrighted works no rightholder is identified, so they are so-called orphan works.

The text of the final version of the document begins with the main reasons that impelled the European community to permit the free use of the vast array of copyrighted works:

1.Libraries, museums, archives, educational establishments, film heritage institutions and public service broadcasting organizations are engaged in large-scale digitization of their collections or archives in order to create European Digital Libraries, including Europeana, and contribute to the preservation and dissemination of European cultural heritage.

2. Free access for EU citizens to knowledge and innovation is one of the priorities of the program "Europe i2020: Strategy of Intelligent, Sustainable and Comprehensive Growth."

3. Creating a legal framework to facilitate the digitization and dissemination of works subject to copyright or related rights for which no rightholder is identified or, even if identified, is not located, so called orphan works, is a key action of the Digital Agenda for Europe.

4. The exclusive rights for rightholders of reproduction and of making available to the public of their works, as harmonized under Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonization of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society, require the consent of the rightholder prior to the digitization and making available of a work. However, in case of orphan works there is no possibility to obtain such a consent.

5. Harmonization of procedures for the recognition of the status of orphan works in the member states will provide the cross-border access to the content for all EU residents, and will clarify the permitted uses of orphan works in the internal European market.

6. The adoption of the Directive is an important step to prevent the creation of orphan works in the future, it establishes a clear procedure for copyright registration with the resulting control over the observance of copyright and related rights.

7. Creation of large-scale digital libraries will stimulate scientific research and invention, providing scientists with efficient digital engines for search and research instead of traditional analog tools, etc.