In December 2022, OpenAIRE launched an event series comprising three workshops to explore the European, US and finally, global copyright landscape and its significance within the Open Science agenda.  
 
The first workshop brought together policymakers, legal scholars, and academic publishers to examine the European context of copyright reform. The panelists were asked to address whether there is a need for substantial copyright reform or whether a more incremental approach is necessary for going forward. The discussion also focused on current copyright models in place and what legislative reform or policy changes are required for sustainable, equitable and fair management of copyrights. 

The second workshop delved into the US landscape and aimed to explore how Open Science is served by the current Fair Use system and how a Statutory Licensing system could be deployed to further and advance Open Access publishing models. The workshop brought together all-important actors and stakeholder groups, including US-based legal scholars, law librarians, lawyers and publishers and engaged in a meaningful and action-oriented debate about the future of copyright.

The C4OS series culminated in a final hybrid workshop, “Open Access C4OS: A Global Perspective”, in-person at the premises of the Onassis Stegi and online, and the discussion was structured around John Willinsky’s proposal for the need to amend copyright and how to regulate statutory licensing for research publications. The proposal served as the conversation starter and sparked off the discussion among the panelists, around the search for the optimal balance between the protection of intellectual capital and the need for a Fair and Open Access to it, suggesting a model that ensures the freedom of academic speech, a balanced remuneration of its creators, and the sustainability of research organizations and publishers. 

Photo

From left to right: Jonathan Band, Attorney, policybandwidth, John Willinsky, Khosla Family Professor Emeritus, Stanford University, and Professor (Limited Term), Simon Fraser University, Daphne Papadopoulou, LL.M. mult, Acting Director, Hellenic Copyright Organization, Prodromos Tsiavos, Head of Digital Development and Innovation at the Onassis Foundation, Legal Counsel at OpenAIRE

  Photo Credit: John Willinsky Conference 2023  ©Dimitris Michalakis for Onassis Stegi

The workshop concluded with a panel discussion on the international roll-out, implementation, and implications of copyright and other legal reforms for Open Science. Invited speakers included John Willinsky, Khosla Family Professor Emeritus, Stanford University, and Professor (Limited Term), Simon Fraser University, Thomas Margoni, Research Professor of Intellectual Property Law, Centre for IT & IP Law (CiTiP), KU Leuven, Daphne Papadopoulou, LL.M. mult, Acting Director, Hellenic Copyright Organization and Jonathan Band, Attorney, policybandwidth.

The importance of equal access to knowledge involving all university institutions, and not merely the financially robust ones, was highlighted. The continuous role of European and American copyright policies in the global landscape of knowledge production is crucial, which is why the structures of scientific knowledge production, together with all their actors, must be considered for the case of amending copyright.

The keynote speaker of our third workshop, John Willinsky, closed the workshop by highlighting that sharing research as widely as possible is a primary goal rather than a secondary one.

By one means or the other, the human interest behind OA can still come through in many forms - John Willinsky

Useful Resources:

Workshop 1: Exploring the European Context of Copyright Reform https://www.openaire.eu/event-recap-exploring-the-european-context-of-copyright-reform-c4os-series

Workshop 2: C4OS in the US: From Fair Use to Statutory Licensing https://www.openaire.eu/event-recap-c4os-in-the-us-from-fair-use-to-statutory-licensing

Recordings:

Workshop 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Dv_knKXiUM&t=10s

Workshop 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFhoCH97phY

Acknowledgements:

We would like to thank the Onassis Foundation for organizing the last workshop of our series, within the framework of Smart Attica – European Digital Innovation Hub and for hosting the whole event on its premises in collaboration with the OpenAIRE team.  

We are also extremely thankful and grateful for all speakers who joined us on this journey and contributed their expertise, ideas and insights (in alphabetical order):

Alea López de San Román, Legal & Policy Officer, European Commission, Directorate for Research and Innovation

Curtis Brundy, Associate University Librarian, Iowa State University

Daphne Papadopoulou, LL.M. mult, Acting Director, Hellenic Copyright Organization

David Fewer, Counsel and Director, Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, University of Ottawa

Ignasi Labastida, Director of Open Access, University of Barcelona

John Willinsky, Khosla Family Professor Emeritus, Stanford University, and Professor (Limited Term), Simon Fraser University

Jonathan Band, Attorney, policybandwidth

Kyle K. Courtney, Copyright Advisor, Harvard University

Prodromos Tsiavos, Head of Digital Development and Innovation at the Onassis Foundation, Legal Counsel at OpenAIRE

Richard Gallagher, President & Editor-in-Chief, Annual Reviews; Publisher, Knowable Magazine

Roberto Caso, Trento LawTech Group, University of Trento

Rod Cookson, Managing Director, IWA Publishing

Roger Van Zwanenberg, Publisher, Pluto Journals

Thomas Margoni, Research Professor of Intellectual Property Law, Centre for IT & IP Law (CiTiP), KU Leuven