Scientific Information Management: annual conference of Croatian academic

and scientific libraries

Croatian Copyright Law: the Impact of International Treaties and

European Law

Teresa Hackett24 October 2008

• Brief overview of eIFL.net;

• why copyright is important for libraries;

• Croatian national copyright law and international treaties;

• Croatian copyright law and EU candidature;

• role of librarians in protecting and promoting library interests in copyright.

Guiding Principles of eIFL

• Access to information is essential in education and research and has a direct impact on the development of societies;

• combined purchasing and negotiating power of libraries can lead to affordable and sustainable access to electronic resources in developing and transition countries;

• the empowerment of citizens and the spread of democracy depends on equal access to information and knowledge worldwide: eIFL.net is committed to levelling the playing field.

About eIFL.net

About eIFL.net• Negotiating affordable subscriptions;• best terms and conditions of use;• supporting national library consortia;• knowledge sharing network.

Content negotiation and licensing• Publisher partners has grown steadily;• includes all subjects, journals and databases, reference sources, e- books;• average 99% discount off the list price;• eIFL model licence.

eIFL.net programmes

• Open access publishing

• Institutional repositories for local content

• Free and open source software for libraries

• Advocacy for Access to Knowledge: copyright and libraries

“Advocacy for Access to Knowledge: copyright and libraries”

(known as eIFL-IP)

Goal To protect and promote the interests of libraries in copyright issues

Vision librarians become a strong voice for fair and balanced copyright laws and leaders in promoting access to knowledge

What is copyright?

• Legal protection for creators of “works of the mind”;

• exclusive right to control production and use of the work by others;

• covers reproduction, distribution, public performance, broadcast, translation.

Why is copyright important for libraries?

• Governs ownership, control and distribution of knowledge;

• libraries provide people with access to knowledge and information;

• professional issue for libraries and library organisations.

“Intellectual property laws are the legal sinews (muscles) of the information age; they affect everything from the availability and price of AIDS drugs, to the patterns of international development, to the communications architecture of the Internet.”

James Boyle, Professor of Law at Duke Law School and the cofounder of the Center for the Study of the Public Domain.

Limitations on copyright

Powerful, exclusive monopoly right is limited in two main ways:

• Term of protection i.e. life of the author + 50 years (or longer);

• exceptions and limitations to enable access to copyrighted works.

International treaties

National law

• Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (1886)

• Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (WTO TRIPS) (1995);

• WIPO Copyright Treaty (1996)

• Berne Convention (1886)Croatia joined in 1991

•WTO TRIPS (1995);Croatia joined in 2000

• WIPO Copyright Treaty (1996) Croatia joined in 2002

Copyright and Related Rights Act 2003

and Amendment 2007

International treaties

European law

National law

Key EU Directives relevant to copyright and libraries:

• Rental and Lending Right (1992)• Term of Protection (1993)• Protection of non-original databases (1996)• Copyright in the Information Society (2001) • Enforcement of intellectual property rights (2004)

Croatia as an EU candidate country

2003 Croatia applied for EU membership2004 confirmed as candidate country2005 Stabilisation and Association Agreement2005 Accession negotiations launched2006 first chapters (Science and Research and Education and Culture) were opened and provisionally closed

Croatian copyright law as an EU candidate country

March 2007 IP chapter opened and closing bench-marks set

April 2008 “Peer assessment mission” to CroatiaMeetings at State Intellectual Property Office, State Inspectorate, Customs Administration, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Justice, High Commercial Court and Croatian Competition Agency

Joint meeting with collecting societies, and “delegates of the representatives in the field of intellectual property, as well as with the representatives from the business sector”.

Libraries?

Copyright and Related Rights Act 2003 and Amendment 2007

FINAL AND TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS Article 32 This Act shall enter into force on the eight day following the day of its publication in the Official Gazette, with the exception of the provision of Article 3 thereof, which shall enter into force on the day of the acceptance of the Republic of Croatia into the full membership of the European Union.

Act on Amendments to the Copyright and Related Rights Act Article 3 In Article 20 paragraph (2), the words “in the territory of the Republic of Croatia” are replaced by the words “in the territory of any of the Member States of the European Union, or any of the States Parties to the Agreement Creating the European Economic Area, respectively”.

“International team of experts has stated that in principle, the intellectual property legislation can be considered harmonized and complete (p. 29)”

Croatian copyright law v European copyright Directive

Article 84 Croatian Copyright Act

Public archives, public libraries, educational and scientific institutions, preschool educational institutions and social (charitable) institutions pursuing non-commercial purposes may reproduce the work from their own copy to any media in not more than one copy.

Article 5.2c European Copyright Directive

In respect of specific acts of reproduction made by publicly accessible libraries, educational establishments or museums, or by archives, which are not for direct or indirect economic or commercial advantage;

Croatian copyright law as an EU candidate country

• IP chapter under negotiation, substantive work completed

• Reproduction Rights Organisation?

• Follow progress with SIPO and chapter negotiations at http://www.delhrv.ec.europa.eu/en/static/view/id/157

• Evaluate what parts of Croatian copyright law are more restrictive than European law, and question why

• Study on Library Exceptions and Limitationshttp://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/doc_details.jsp?doc_id=109192

Croatian copyright law as an EU candidate country

Follow European and international developments

• July 2008 Green Paper on Copyright and the Knowledge Economy, open consultation 30 November 2008http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/copyright/copyright-infso/copyright-infso_en.htm#greenpaper

• August 2008 Proposal to extend term of protection for performers, opposed by libraries http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/copyright/term-protection/term-protection_en.htm

Librarians as stakeholders

• Day-to-day work and at policy level• Professional librarians have a role to protect library interests when copyright laws are being amended

• SIPO brochure “Civil Organizations” = “Associations of holders of IPR”

• eIFL and IFLA work at international level• EBLIDA works at European level• Croatian librarians work at national level

We must all work together for strong user rights!

Thank you for listening!

Any questions?