Brussels, 05/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - On 1 March, the MEPs of the committee on legal affairs of the European Parliament unanimously approved the mandate of Lidia Geringer de Oedenberg (S&D, Poland) to start discussions with the European Council on the proposed directive of the European Commission on orphan works. “This regulation would finally make it possible to get some hidden treasures out of the closet and make them available to the general public. Now it is time to start negotiating with national governments and stand up for our points”, Geringer said.
Currently, the full wealth of the European digital library Europeana remains curtailed due to considerable numbers of orphan works which cannot be digitalised, as it is not possible to trace their author(s). Under the Commission's proposed directive, any work can be considered orphan if, further to “careful research”, it proves impossible to identify or locate the author. Once this status has been acquired, orphan works will be made public via digitalisation and solely for non-profit-making purposes. The MEPs stress that the copyright owner must have the ability to put an end to the orphan work's status at any time and call for appropriate compensation for the use made of it. The Parliament and Council must now agree on a common text. (IL/transl.fl)