Workpackage 4

Allocation of Rights, Actors and Institutions

Objectives:

Access to knowledge is a pre-requisite for innovation and creativity. The objective here is to conduct research assessing the specific interests and roles played by the various stake holders and the function of decision making bodies in the context of access to information protected by IP rights; and to examine concerns of the public interest in access to information specifically with regard to those stake holders and other institutions. The work package analyses how divergent legal principles can be harmonized at the European level so as to stimulate more effective licensing and/or business models whilst creating a balanced level of protection.

Description of Work and Role of Specific Beneficiaries and Partner Organisations:

The work package is concerned with fundamental aspects of how works protected by copyright can be better and more effectively disseminated. It looks at different aspects of access to creative works in digital form, such as (cross-border) licensing, dissemination strategies, consumer demands, enforcement and integrates perspectives from stake holders, including the judiciary and the conditions for the evolution of copyright law as applied to, specifically, digital distribution channels. While ESR12 (Beneficiaries CEIPI and QMUL, partner organisation CISAC and GEMA) will study the legal mechanisms and business models that may facilitate access to creative works in a digital form, ESR13 (Beneficiaries QMUL and CEIPI, partner organisations EUIPO and Kennisland) complements that research by analysing the role of specific societal institutions (libraries, museums, etc.) as facilitators of access and distributors of knowledge and culture. ESR14 (Beneficiaries CEIPI and QMUL, partner organisations OHIM and EPI) will analyse another group of actors, namely courts, in particular the impact of the organization of court systems (general, specialized and national/regional) on the delivery of justice in the field of creativity and innovation. ESR15 (Beneficiaries QMUL and MIPLC, partner organisations CISAC and GEMA) will look more closely at the development of IP laws, including legal principles, at the supranational and domestic level, so as to suggest harmonization where useful for a more effective licensing system or better balanced level of protection.