communia

Our February newsletter is out, featuring:

🔸All aboard the Digital Omnibus - direction unknown
🔸The EP's report on copyright and genAI
🔸News from ITRE in anticipation of the ERA Act

🧐 Read now: mailchi.mp/communia-ass...

✍ Sign up: eepurl.com/g8TTvT

ITRE: Free circulation of scientific knowledge is key to ERA Act The European Parliament’s ITRE Committee has adopted a motion for a resolution, setting out key priorities for the upcoming instrument.

🗳️Earlier today, the ITRE Committee adopted a motion for a resolution that asks some important questions of the Commission's approach to the upcoming ERA Act🤔

🔽Our reaction to the motion, and what is needed for the ERA Act to succeed:
communia-association.org/2026/02/25/i...

Still can't get enough?

Then check out the work of our friends and colleagues who made the PDD 2026 Possible:

@cmfrancoise.bsky.social
@meemoo-be.bsky.social
@openfuture.bsky.social
@creativecommons.bsky.social
@europeana.bsky.social
@wikimedia.brussels
@internetarchive.eu

and many more!

Looking back at the European Public Domain Day 2026 On 15 January, we celebrated the Public Domain Day 2026 at the Royal Library of Belgium, bringing together advocates, academics and practitioners from a variety of backgrounds.

🎉We had a great time co-hosting this year's Public Domain Day in Brussels.

In case you couldn't join us or if you simpy want to reminisce, an overview of the day as well as the recordings are now available on our blog.

👀Have a look: communia-association.org/2026/02/05/l...

Consultation submission: Digital Omnibus Last week, we submitted our response to the European Commission’s consultation on the Digital Omnibus.

communia-association.org/2026/02/03/c...

📮We just submitted our response to the Digital Omnibus consultation.

Currently, the proposal undermines the “open by default” principle and paves the way towards more restrictive licensing.

📢 Open licences must remain the norm, not the exception!

👇Full response

The blogpost
👉 communia-association.org/2026/01/28/a...

Don't want to miss any updates from Communia?
Sign up for our newsletter!
👉 eepurl.com/g8TTvT

The social cost of TPMs goes far beyond rightsholders’ interests and slows innovation!

The DSM review must finally address this issue and halt the ecological damage TPMs cause for open knowledge systems.

🔽📄Learn more in our guest blogpost by Kristofer Erickson

INI on copyright and generative AI: After the vote Today, the JURI Committee adopted Axel Voss’s own-initiative report on copyright and generative AI. The report still contains ambiguities and problematic language that risk creating legal uncertainty,...

🚨 The JURI Committee has adopted the INI report on copyright & generative AI.

The outcome leaves legal uncertainty for researchers and public-interest AI developers.

Plenary vote in March.

👉 Full analysis (@justusdreyling.bsky.social and Leander Nielbock):
communia-association.org/2026/01/28/i...

Our January newsletter is out, featuring:
🔸Parliament INI on Copyright & GenAI
🔸Upcoming Conference on the Secondary Publication Right
🔸Guest blogpost on copyright TPMs
🧐Read now: mailchi.mp/communia-ass...
📝Sign up: eepurl.com/g8TTvT

INI on copyright and generative AI: Final assessment and recommendation The INI on copyright and generative AI will be put to a Committee vote this week. Although framed as a response to legitimate questions around AI and copyright, the proposal suffers from serious short...

🚨 JURI vote on copyright & generative AI coming up on Wednesday (28 Jan)!

Our assessment of Axel Voss’s INI:
▶️ some improvements
▶️ but still major flaws

👉 The Committee should reject the report, or at least fix its most glaring mistakes.

👇Full analysis: communia-association.org/2026/01/26/i...

programme | Secondary Publication Right Conference on the Secondary Publication Right, February 5, 2026, Academy of Sciences of Lisbon.

Programme:
www.secondarypublication.com/en/programa

Registrations:
bad.pt/formularios/...

📆On 5 February, COMMUNIA is co-organising the Conference on the Secondary Publication Right in Lisbon (held in PT and ENG).

We will bring together experts and policymakers to discuss a proposal for the adoption of SPR in Portugal!

Interested?
Check out the links below to learn more and register!

And the ✨ European Public Domain Day ✨ has started! #EPDD26
We are very excited to launch the event with Bart Magnus from Meemoo.

Today, that's not only our conference, it is also the Wikipedia 2️⃣ 5️⃣ th Birthday 🎂 #Wikipedia25

📄 Check the program of the conference: www.pdday.org/events/europ...

Submission to the open consultation on the ERA Act Yesterday, we submitted our response (PDF file) to the public consultation questionnaire on the European Research Area (ERA) Act. The ERA Act, which the European Commission is expected to introduce to...

This week, we submitted our response to public consultation on the European Research Area (ERA) Act!

The consultation remains open until 23 January 2026 — make your voice heard, too! 📢

Our response:
communia-association.org/2026/01/13/s...

Link to the questionnaire:
ec.europa.eu/info/law/bet...

On 1 January a new wave of cultural heritage entered the public domain!

To celebrate, we are co-hosting the Public Domain Day 2026📚

🗓️ 15 January 2026
📍 Royal Library of Belgium & online
👉 We're at capacity for in-person participation, but online participation is still possible

🎄🎁Our December newsletter is out, featuring:

🔸The Digital Omnibus' impact on open projects
🔸Our work at WIPO
🔸News from France & Italy
🔸Public Domain Day 2026
🔸An update on the INI on Copyright & GenAI

🧐Read now: mailchi.mp/communia-ass...
📝Sign up: eepurl.com/g8TTvT

Protect the Public Domain: Stop the 70-year term for non-creative photographs Italy has adopted a legal amendment to extend the term of exclusive rights for simple photographs from 20 to 70 years, a drastic shift that may cause irreversible damage.

Italy extended exclusive rights for “simple” documentary photos from 20 → 70 years. This could seriously harm research, education, and the Public Domain. 📸⚠️

Read more by Deborah De Angelis on the COMMUNIA blog:

communia-association.org/2025/12/10/p...

#PublicDomain #Copyright

Our thoughts on the current state of the INI on Copyright and generative AI In July, MEP Axel Voss released his draft for an own initiative report on Copyright and generative AI in the JURI Committee. To reach a consensus in the committee, the rapporteur has thus far proposed...

We just published our thoughts on the current state of the INI report on copyright & GenAI:
✅Improvements for users' rights
✅Recognises TDM exceptions for GenAI
‼️Special treatment for press publishers' & media content
‼️Undermining territoriality

Full post 👉 communia-association.org/2025/12/09/o...

The #DigitalOmnibus Proposal sets out to fold the Open Data Directive into the Data Act. This isn't problematic in itself, but there's one change that's a real headache for open advocates. Read my assessment on the COMMUNIA blog:
communia-association.org/2025/12/05/t...

The Digital Omnibus and open data: Risks for open projects The EU’s Digital Omnibus Proposal has sparked controversy, especially over the planned changes to the GDPR. One amendment to the Open Data Directive in particular could have serious consequences, pote...

communia-association.org/2025/12/05/t...

🚏Next stop: Our comments on the Digital Omnibus

While many have rightfully criticised the planned changes to the data protection regime - we want to focus on a part of the proposal that spells danger to open projects like @wikimediafoundation.org

Our takes by @justusdreyling.bsky.social 🔽

Submission to the CSPLA questionnaire on AI-generated outputs Last week, COMMUNIA submitted its response to the CSPLA Task Force on the Protection of Content Generated Using Generative AI. We argue that EU copyright law is fully equipped to deal with AI-generate...

Last week, we submitted our response to the french CSPLA questionnaire on AI-generated outputs.

We argue:
- Copyright must remain human-centric
- EU copyright law is fully equipped to deal with AI outputs

Curious? Our full submission (in Englisch😏):
communia-association.org/2025/12/03/s...

Navigating Uncertainty: Legal Risk Awareness and Management in European Museums - COMMUNIA Association This analysis explores how museums perceive and manage exposure to legal risks, with a particular focus on copyright and intellectual property in the context of cultural heritage.

communia-association.org/publication/...

Why do European museums shy away from exhausting the possibilities available under the copyright framework?

Find out in our new study, prepared by
@centrumcyfrowe.bsky.social:

📃 Navigating Uncertainty: Legal Risk Awareness and Management in European Museums

🧐Read it at the link in the comments

Our November newsletter is out, featuring:
🔸 Our new study on navigating legal uncertainty in European museums
🔸 ERA Act and DFA consultations
🔸 Our contribution to a @verfassungsblog.de series on the DKA

Read now🧐: mailchi.mp/communia-ass...
Sign up📝: eepurl.com/g8TTvT

⏰Knock knock it's consultation o'clock⏰

Recently, the Commission opened a public consultation on the European Research Area Act which runs until 23 January 2026!

For everyone out there who cares for research in Europe, this is your chance!

Have your say now!
ec.europa.eu/info/law/bet...

The Case for a EU Digital Knowledge Act

Our blogpost & access to the whole series:
verfassungsblog.de/copyright-eu...

The Case for a EU Digital Knowledge Act

We had the pleasure to contribute to a Verfassungsblog series Towards a Digital Knowledge Agenda in Europe.

In her piece, Teresa Nobre made the constitutional case for a cross-sectoral act to improve the conditions for digital knowledge flows in the EU!

🔎Link in the comments📄

Europe is standing at a critical moment for its digital future. COMMUNIA joins a diverse coalition calling on the EU to champion open source as the foundation for true European Digital Sovereignty.

Our 5-point plan for the European tech ecosystem: assets.mozilla.net/pdf/Open_Let...