27.3.2004   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 78/268

1.

Is the Commission aware of Project Gutenberg?

2.

Does it consider this a laudable initiative, preserving an important part of European history and culture and making it available to all Europeans?

3.

Is the Commission aware that the volunteers working on Project Gutenberg are experiencing great difficulties specifically with the European version of Project Gutenberg because copyright laws are not harmonised in the EU?

4.

What steps could the Commission take to support Project Gutenberg's volunteers in their work, which is of great importance to European culture?

1.

The Commission is aware of the Gutenberg project.

2.

The Commission favours initiatives that contribute to the preservation and dissemination of European history and culture, in particular by re-using works that either have fallen into the public domain or where dissemination has been authorised.

3.

The Union is made up of 15, and soon 25, countries with many different traditions in the cultural field. These different traditions are also reflected in the national laws governing the protection of copyright and related rights.

To tackle some of these differences, the Commission has carried out several exercises over the past ten years to harmonise certain aspects of copyright in the internal market, and some of these efforts, like the harmonisation of the terms of protection (Council Directive 93/98/EEC of 29 October 1993 harmonising the term of protection of copyright and certain related rights (1)) have certainly made it easier for those involved in the Gutenberg project.

In Article 1 of this Directive, the rights of an author of a literary or artistic work run for the life of the author and for 70 years after his death, irrespective of the date when the work is lawfully made available to the public.

In the case of a work of joint authorship, the term referred to in Article 1 is calculated from the death of the last surviving author.

The only exceptions to this harmonisation that stand today concern Spain and France for a very limited set of authors. This exception is allowed via Article 10 of the Directive, providing that Member States with terms of protection longer than 70 years at the time of the adoption of Directive 93/98/EEC are entitled to keep them.

4.

The Commission supports initiatives in the cultural sector in the framework of the ‘Culture 2000’ programme and in the context of the IST programme. The ‘Culture 2000’ programme has been set up to support projects which are co-produced and co-financed by at least three operators who are nationals of at least three countries which participate in the programme. Further information if required can be found on the following web site: (http://europa.eu.int/comm/culture/c2000).

The IST programme supports research in the area of Information Society Technologies and one specific priority within this programme supports access to cultural heritage under the so-called DigiCult activity: Digital Heritage and Cultural content. Additional information can be found on the following web site: (http://www.cordis.lu/ist/directorate_e/digicult/index.htm).