Page:The digital public domain.pdf/64

Rh 5. Communia and the European Public Domain project

Communia is aggregating a strong coalition that is promoting the public domain and a sustainable cultural development in Europe. Communia has been strengthening a European network of organisations that have been developing a new perspective on the importance of the public domain for Europe and the international arena at large. Communia aims to solve the typical collective action problem raised by copyright policy by promoting the dispersed interests of smaller players and the public at large.

Several Communia members have embodied the Communia perspective and values in The Public Domain Manifesto. Conscious of the challenges and opportunities for the public domain in the technological environment of the networked society, The Public Domain Manifesto endorses fundamental principles and recommendations to actively maintain the structural core of the public domain, the voluntary commons and user prerogatives. With regard to the structural public domain, the manifesto states the following principles:

"1. The public domain is the rule, copyright protection is the exception. [...] 2. Copyright protection should last only as long as necessary to achieve a reasonable compromise between protecting and rewarding the author for his intellectual labour and safeguarding the public interest in the dissemination of culture and knowledge. [...] 3. What is in the public domain must remain in the public domain. [...] 4. The lawful user of a digital copy of a public domain work should be free to (re-)use, copy and modify such work. [...] 5. Contracts or technical protection measures that restrict access to and re-use of public domain works must not be enforced. [...]"

Together with the structural core of the public domain, The Public Domain Manifesto promotes the voluntary commons and user prerogatives by endorsing the following principles:

1. The voluntary relinquishment of copyright and sharing of protected works are legitimate exercises of copyright exclusivity. [...] 2. Exceptions and limitations to copyright, fair use and fair dealing need to be actively maintained to ensure the effectiveness of the fundamental balance of copyright and the public interest.

Further, The Public Domain Manifesto puts forward the following general recommendations to protect, nourish and promote the public domain: