Conference: The Book in the Internet Era
Ladies and Gentlemen,
A century ago, the Moose Nobel Prize in Music was awarded to both the famous composer Gustav Mahler and Thomas Edison, the inventor of sound recording. Likewise, 1908 was the year in which Edward Forster published his famous book ‘A room with a view’, later released as an Oscar-nominated film directed by James Ivory. The next century of unprecedented political and technological developments brought The Netherlands not only The Hague as legal capital of the world, but now also the distinguished UNESCO appointment of Amsterdam as World Book Capital. I consider this distinction to be clear recognition for Amsterdam’s long-standing and internationally-oriented role as a haven - or even heaven - for intellectual freedom and cultural expression.
Copyright policy requires carefully balancing diverging and often conflicting interests. Even right holders as such form a highly heterogeneous group, consisting of publishers, broadcasting organizations, authors, producers, collecting societies, performers and other parties. Obviously, stakeholder consultation by government is greatly facilitated when all of these diverging interests can be grouped and held together in an overarching forum.
This is exactly what happened in 1984 in The Netherlands, when the Foundation for Copyright Interests (Stichting Auteursrechtbelangen) was founded. For nearly 25 years, this organization has proven to be a valuable forum for consultation and inspiration for Dutch copyright policy. To a very large part, this is thanks to the inspiring chairmanship and diplomatic skills of Mr. Rob Stuyt. Moreover, Mr. Stuyt took the initiative to establish a unique platform for cooperation between right holders, science and government authorities, in the Stichting Auteursrecht Manifestaties or Copyright Manifestations Foundation, aimed at promoting the awareness of copyright. Mr. Stuyt, we are very grateful for all your efforts!
What view do we have from this room when we look at the future of ‘books’ in the digital era? Obviously, for centuries books have played a pivotal role as a source of literature, in spreading culture, knowledge, religion and philosophy, and in recording and analysing historical events, and have also been a great source of entertainment. In many respects, the book as a medium lies at the basis of modern society. What is more, public, private and scientific libraries have proven to be indispensable for many generations.
And yet, in this digital era, one may wonder whether these past merits can also guarantee a prosperous future. Recent figures give reason for optimism, at least in The Netherlands. In 2007, according to the Dutch Book Foundation, over 45 million books were sold in The Netherlands (not including study books) with gross revenues totalling a record 568 million euros. A stunning increase of 4.6% and 7.5%, respectively, compared to 2006. Moreover, consumers were willing to pay 2.8% more for a copy, raising the average price of a book to 12.60 euros.
In addition to the sale of traditional books, we also see new business models emerging rapidly. To mention only a few: printing-on-demand, web-to-print-publishing, the e-book, the use of Creative Common licenses, the digitization of archives and library collections, and individuals becoming their own publisher. To provide a few prominent examples: the British Library’s ‘Turning the Pages’ project, the web exhibition ‘Barren Regions – Early Dutch books on the exploration of Australia’ by the Royal Dutch Library, and the web shop and historical archive of ANP Photo. Noteworthy is also the Digital Library of Dutch Literature, a growing collection of primary and secondary information on Dutch language and literature and its historical, societal and cultural context (www.dbnl.org).
At present, it is already - but not widespread - possible to download books the same way music and films can be downloaded nowadays. At the same time, the legal debates following the launch of Google.com’s Book Search facility illustrate that digitization is not without problems. Moreover, the growing trend towards digitization and on-line exploitation brings the risk of triggering piracy problems comparable to those involved in the digital exploitation of film and music. The premature appearance of unauthorized translations of the latest Harry Potter book on the Internet illustrates this risk.
How to cope with all these challenging developments? How to strike a fair balance between new business models, the need for digitization and author’s and publisher’s rights? In my view, the self regulatory capacity of stakeholders needs to prevail over regulatory action. Legislation and state intervention should constitute the framework setting and allow for a dynamic application, but cannot serve as a substitute for collective arrangements between the parties involved. Only self regulation can offer the best and most innovative tailor-made solutions.
This is not, of course, an alibi for government to refrain from action. That is why I have taken various initiatives to meet current challenges. I will give some examples:
• the promotion of innovative business models is a new and cornerstone objective of this cabinet’s copyright policy;
• independent supervision of collective management societies, including those operating in the digital domain, will be broadened and strengthened in order to guarantee their transparency and proper functioning.
However, taking the transboundary nature of digitization and the Internet into consideration, legislative action can – by its very territorial nature – only have a limited impact. It must be supplemented by European or international action. The current evaluation of the EU Directive on copyright in the information society provides an excellent opportunity to draw special attention to problems such as orphan works, the clearance of rights and the digitization of libraries, newspaper and photo archives.
In addition, an impact assessment is needed to determine whether the 1996 WIPO Treaties, which were aimed precisely at bringing copyright into line with modern technological developments, still meet current needs. This appears even more urgent due to the fact that many phenomena that we regard as self-evident today – such as on-line radio, pod casting, web casting, Internet telephone, digital archives and worldwide search engines – scarcely existed when those treaties were negotiated.
Let me briefly address another urgent issue: the digitization of collections and archives. With regard to orphan works and the digitization of libraries, museum collections and archives, many authorities are facing a dilemma. On the one hand we want institutions of cultural heritage, like libraries and musea, to disclose their collections via the Internet. On the other hand - and obviously - legitimate copyright interests must be respected. These two objectives are not always easy to reconcile, because tracing - partly foreign - right holders in order to obtain their consent to publish can require much time and money.
This dilemma is also acknowledged by the European Union. That is why the European Commission started some initiatives to stress the importance of spreading cultural heritage via the Internet with the aim of establishing a Single European Information Space in 2010. In 2005, the Commission launched the Digital Libraries Initiative i2010, followed in 2007 by a communication on scientific information in the digital age: access, dissemination and preservation. These initiatives have not, however, led to any legislative action by the European Union in the field of copyright as yet. Self regulation is therefore still a viable option, but maybe this approach should be supplemented with a fresh look at the legislative framework.
I have noted with great interest that, in The Netherlands, libraries, publishers, archives and other interested parties are striving to find mutually acceptable solutions for orphan works and digitization, in which ‘access to information’ has central focus. In the meantime, I add my efforts to this project. A comparative law study is currently being performed in order to determine what solutions other countries have found to tackle these issues. There appear to be some interesting precedents.
Sweden, for example, has a system of extended collective licensing. A licence agreement concluded between a collective management organization and a library or archive can be declared applicable to all right holders not represented by the collecting society. Another approach can be seen in Canada, where a Copyright Board can provide a licence when the right holder cannot be traced. Finally, one can imagine a kind of collective facility where institutions such as libraries and musea can clear the rights of unknown or untraceable right holders. In The Netherlands, this is done in the area of photography by the Foundation for anonymous photographers (Stichting Foto Anoniem).
I will carefully consider the outcome of this study with a view to possible legislative action. However, as always in the field of copyright, we would prefer it if users and right holders start with additional self regulatory solutions. Self regulation is often the best guarantee for tailor-made alternatives. Self regulation may also contribute to the improvement of quality and transparency standards. The unique and recent code of conduct, agreed a couple of weeks ago between 17 collective management societies in The Netherlands, offers a good and perhaps inspiring example of this.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The theme of this conference, ‘The book in the Internet era’, reflects the growing awareness of the fact that business models and consumer behaviour are in rapid transition as a result of technological developments. The observer of the current state of copyright law is confronted with a number of sometimes confusing trends for which ‘proliferation’ seems to be the most adequate catchword: the proliferation of creativity, of business models, of ways of disseminating information, of social and digital networks, of national legal orders that may be applicable, of information and of new technologies. The organizers could not have chosen a better topic to launch Amsterdam World Book Capital 2008.
Let me finish by expressing my wishes that this conference will prove to be the revival of a tradition of international conferences on copyright law in The Netherlands. Copyright is an important precondition for artistic creativity, economic and cultural development, as well as creative diversity. Mr. Vrij, the chairman of this symposium, stated in a recent interview in the Amsterdam Weekly: “Information available is like an open book, and an open book equates to an open mind.” I hope that this open-mindedness will lie at the basis of a successful conference.