News
EWC is Participating in the EC Structured Stakeholder Dialogue "Licences for Europe"
As announced in the Communication from the Commission On content in the Digital Single Market (18.12.2012) "Licences for Europe" is an initiative jointly led by Commissioners Michel Barnier (Internal Market and Services), Neelie Kroes (Digital Agenda) and Androulla Vassiliou (Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth). Its main purpose is to seek to deliver rapid progress in bringing content online through practical industry-led solutions. Parallel to the Structured Stakeholder Dialogue the Commission will complete its on-going review of the EU copyright framework, based on market studies and impact assessment and legal drafting work, with a view to a decision in 2014 whether to table the resulting legislative reform proposals.
The 4 areas that "Licences for Europe" is tackling during 2013 are:
Cross-border access and the portability of services;
User-generated content and licensing for small-scale users of protected material;
Audiovisual sector and cultural heritage institutions; and
Text and data mining for scientific research purposes.
EWC has joined the Working group 1 on cross-border access and the portability of services, as well as in WG2 on user-generated content.
A dedicated website provides general information about "Licences for Europe", access to documents published by the Working Groups, and the possibility to propose ideas and documents for consideration by the WGs.
For more information:
http://ec.europa.eu/licences-for-europe-dialogue/en
The EC communication:
New Literary Portal
Switzerland has a new independent portal launched in May 2013 during the “Journées littéraires de Soleure”. It will gather what was available in different platforms. A detailed landscape of the four different literatures created in Switzerland will give more visibility to its authors both nationally and internationally.
The portal will be multi-lingual, including the languages of Switzerland: French, German, Italian, and RhaetoRomanic. It will also be in English. It will provide information about the Swiss authors’ publications, forthcoming lectures readings, as well as their biographies and bibliographies.
This is an initiative of the Zurich based association Littérature Suisse / LiteraturSchweiz chaired by its president Nicole Pfister Fetz.
Source : Press Release LiteraturSchweiz.
Contact: LiteraturSchweiz
c/o AdS Autrices et Auteurs de Suisse
Konradstr. 61, 8031 Zürich
http://www.litteraturesuisse.ch/
New Campaign for Authors' Rights in Germany
Under the motto “Wir geben 8 aufs Wort” VG WORT has launched a campaign to strengthen the rights of authors and publishers.Central to the campaign are the 8 principles set by VG Wort on copyright. Important personalities from the worlds of literature, science and the media will support the 8 principles with personal statements related to their concerns about copyright.
The collecting society VG WORT was founded in February, 1958. It is a legal association in which authors and publishers have joined together to facilitate the collective management of copyright.
Contact: Verwertungsgesellschaft WORT (VG WORT)
Rechtsfähiger Verein kraft Verleihung
Untere Weidenstraße 5, 81543 München
For additional information (in German only):
IFJ/EFJ Call for Global Fight Back Against Unfair Contracts
“To mark World Copyright Day on 23 April, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its European group, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), are launching a campaign to fight against unfair contracts. IFJ/EFJ have called on their affiliates to launch a global fight back against rights-grabbing contracts that demand journalists to assign their authors' rights to publishers. Rights-grabbing contracts, or "buy-out contracts", demand that journalists sign all moral and economic rights over to publishers. These include the right to protect the integrity of their work, be identified as the author and to receive equitable remuneration when work is re-used. Buy-out contracts assign media employers a worldwide, exclusive right to use, reproduce, display, modify and distribute their work on all types of platforms, known or future. They also allow media employers to transfer the work to third parties without additional payment to the journalist. The EFJ has been collecting information about unfair contractual terms and conditions and found that major newspapers, magazines and broadcasters across Europe widely use these unfair contracts. The IFJ has called on over 170 national affiliates to collect rights-grabbing contracts and share such samples to illustrate the case and put pressure on national legislators to end the unfair contractual practices.” Source: IFJ/EFJ
You can find more information on the Campaign Against Unfair Contracts on this link:
http://www.ifj.org/en/articles/ifj-efj-call-for-global-fight-back-against-unfair-contracts
http://www.ifj.org/en/pages/campaign-against-unfair-contracts
European Writers’ Council Executive Board elected on 12 April 2013
We are very pleased to inform you about the new board composition for the period 2013-2015, as a result of the elections held during the 2013 EWC / FAEE Annual General Assembly in Malta.
The new board is constituted as follows:
President (re-elected):
—Dr. Pirjo Hiidenmaa (Finland).
Vice-presidents:
—Mr. Nick Yapp (United Kingdom).
—Mr. Thorbjörn Öström (Sweden).
Regular members:
—Ms. Lena Ruth Stefanović (Montenegro).
—Mr. Carmel Azzopardi (Malta).
—Ms. Gerlinde Schermer-Rauwolf (Germany).
—Mr. Karl-Martin Sinijärv (Estonia).
World Creators Summit - Create • Connect • Respect
June 4 & 5, 2013,
What is the World Creators Summit
The World Creators Summit (formerly known as World Copyright Summit), will take place in Washington DC at the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center on June 4 and 5, 2013 (with an opening cocktail party on June 3 evening).
Presented by CISAC, it is the leading international and cross-industry event addressing the future of the creative community and the entertainment business in the digital economy. The event’s slogan, “Create – Connect – Respect,” encapsulates the event’s vision of a fair and sustainable environment for the creative sector.
best pokies online 10pt;">Now in its fourth edition, this biennial event aims at establishing a constructive dialogue, exchange ideas, debate diverse viewpoints and discuss the remedies linked to intellectual property and creative content online with all the stakeholders in the new digital economy, from creators, rights organizations and guilds, to content service providers, broadcasters, telecommunications operators, hardware manufacturers, legal experts and policy-makers.
What’s on the agenda?
• Visions for the future: Exploring the trends for tomorrow
• Creators in the digital eco-system: How they connect with their audience and policy-makers
• Public policies for the creative sector: How copyright-related policies can help support the economy and provide a fair environment for creators – with a focus on the US agenda
• “Copyright Innovation = Growth”: Asserting the value of copyright as a driver for economic, cultural and social development
• Economy of creation: Business models, services, licensing schemes and solutions/remedies to access the digital market and improve the situation for creators, users and consumers
• Collective management for the 21st century: Transparency & governance, access to data, and easier licensing process.
http://www.creatorssummit.com/
Publication: The European Union Prize for Literature: Twelve Winning Authors, 2012
Published jointly by the EC, DG Education and Culture, the European Writers’ Council, the European Booksellers Federation and the Federation of European Publishers.
The publication contains a selection of each winning book in English or French translation, with a photo and bibliography of the authors. The book is widely distributed in the EU, first at the Award ceremony, and subsequently during important cultural events promoting the EUPL and major Book Fairs.
To download the PDF: http://www.euprizeliterature.eu/awards-ceremony/2012
Publication: Literacy and the Culture of Reading
Proceedings of the Forum MARE NOSTRUM VI held on 26 May 2011,
Published by the European Writers’ Council
Rue du Prince Royal 87,
The European Writer series ISSN: 1560-4217. 74 pp.
To download the PDF: http://www.europeanwriterscouncil.eu/index.php/publications