The Coalition for Open Education participated in the European Commission’s public consultations for the review of current EU copyright regulations. The public consultations have concluded on the 5th of March 2014. In our recommendations we have supported far-reaching changes: shortening the copyright protection period from 70 to – initially – 50 years (in accordance with the Berne Convention) and widening and clarifying the rules of fair use, both for personal and educational purposes. The ultimate aim is reaching a stage, at which every non-commercial, educational use and distribution of a creative work is permitted.

The public consultations appear to have been a breakthrough, with approximately 11,000 people and organisations participating (typical EU regulation consultations gather several hundred participants). According to the Modern Poland Foundation’s data, the Polish websitekonsultacje.prawokultury.pl had been visited by over 6800 users, 291 of which have completed the consultation questionnaire. 543 of those have gone forward to the youcan.fixcopyright.eu website in order to fill in the full 80-question survey. The Coalition for Open Education is looking forward to a summary of the consultation results.

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