Libraries and Copyright

- A Door of Opportunity

Norwegian Copyright Law, Kopinor and Copying in Libraries

Kopinor, the Reproduction Rights Organisation of Norway, welcomes all WLIC participants to Norway, especially those participants from developing countries and countries in transition, who have been sponsored by Kopinor’s funding of NOK 500,000. We wish to take this opportunity to inform you about Copyright Law and the relationship between rights holders and the library sector in Norway, and in particular about recent amendments to the Norwegian Copyright Act.

On 8 June 2005, the Norwegian Parliament passed new legislation opening up for a new and exciting relationship between rights holders and libraries and their users. The new legislation came into force on 1 July 2005.

WHAT IS KOPINOR?

Kopinor is a collective management body which licenses photocopying and certain digital uses of copyright protected works against remuneration in all sectors of Norwegian society. This task is undertaken on behalf of all categories of authors (writers, visual artists, photographers, lyricists, composers etc.) and their publishers.

Presently Kopinor collects copyright fees of approx. € 24 m. / US$ 32 m. annually. Collected fees are passed on to rights holders in Norway and abroad. Funds in Norway are distributed on a non-title-specific basis in the form of grants to creators and direct financial input to publishers, thereby greatly stimulating the creation of new works to the benefit of Norwegian society.

COLLECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF RIGHTS

Collective management of rights is an integrated part of Norwegian Cultural Policy, and special legislation facilitates the work of Kopinor and six other collective management organisations. In principle, rights holders can decide how and by whom their works are used. It is in their interest that their works are enjoyed by the widest audience, provided that they are rewarded for their work. In some areas, copyright can be managed through individual contracts between the authors and users, for instance publishing contracts.

However, in many cases it is impossible to negotiate individual licenses or permissions for dissemination of works. Rights holders will in such cases authorize a collective management organization (CMO) to administer their rights. CMOs can take different forms, but the general rule is that the organization is owned, managed and controlled by rights holders of the territory in which it operates. In most countries there is also some form of government supervision of CMOs.

Basically, we can state that collective administration or management of rights is a feasible solution when the individual exercise of rights is impracticable or impossible. Collective management often comes into play in cases where a large number of works and/or a large number of users are involved.

More information about the CMOs in Norway: www.clara.no.

COPYING IN LIBRARIES

Kopinor licenses the photocopying of copyright protected works in private libraries through agreements with their owners and also the internal use of copies among the staff in publicly owned libraries. However, public libraries enjoy certain library privileges in the Copyright Act. These privileges include the rights to make copies for conservation and security purposes.

Norwegian rights holders and Kopinor have always supported such privileges. Libraries play a fundamental role in Norwegian society by conserving and securing access to our cultural heritage and our knowledge base. Authors of all categories are major users of library services. Libraries thus play a major role in the process of creation of new works.

LIBRARIES - EXEMPTIONS IN THE COPYRIGHT ACT

Section 12 allows copying for private use. According to the latest amendments rights holders will receive remuneration for certain types of digital uses mainly of musical and audiovisual works (typically home copying) over the State budget.

Significantly, the Norwegian Library Association in June 2005 wrote a letter to the Ministry of Culture stating its view that rights holders to texts also should receive compensation for the private copying of their works.

Section 16 in the Act states, after the latest amendments, that the government may make regulations allowing archives, libraries, museums, and educational and research institutions to make copies of works for conservation and security purposes and other special purposes. The institutions may also give access to individuals through terminals on their premises to works in their collections, which they may digitize, for research and private study. The regulations cannot, however, allow copying for commercial uses.

Copies made under this provision are to be determined according to the needs of libraries, not the needs of the end-user, and do not entail any remuneration to rights holders. New regulations for library uses are expected soon.

Section 17 allows copies to be made on a non-commercial basis for the disabled. The Sections mentioned above are of course not a complete list of exemptions in the Act.

NEW LEGISLATION - EXTENDED LICENSE FOR LIBRARIES

On 1 July, 2005, a completely new Section 16a of our Copyright Law took effect, introducing the Extended Collective License into the library field:

THE EXTENDED COLLECTIVE LICENSE SYSTEM

has been used for many years for the reproduction of copies for educational purposes and in institutions and commercial enterprises.

Simplified, the Extended Collective License permits copying if the user has an agreement with an approved collective management organisation representing a substantial number of Norwegian rights holders. If the conditions laid down in law for such an agreement have been fulfilled, then the user may also make copies of works created and published by rights holders not represented by the organisation. The law extends the scope of the agreement to cover works created by “outsiders”, thus the term “Extended Collective License”.

Space does not allow a detailed review of the system, but taking into account that rights holders in many countries have not mandated organisations to manage their rights, this system gives legal access to published works from across the globe to Norwegian users at terms negotiated in Norway. This system is in particular beneficial to small countries like Norway as well as to developing countries.

(More information about the Extended Collective License here).

EXTENDED LICENSE: A DOOR OF OPPORTUNIT Y FOR LIBRARIES

The Copyright Act gives libraries certain privileges through the library exemptions. However, international copyright conventions as well as certain EU directives limit the extent to which national laws can permit libraries to make copies without permission or payment of remuneration to rights holders.

As mentioned above, libraries may digitize their own collections for conservation purposes etc., and can give access to users when the user so requests - on their premises. However, they cannot offer general documentation services, or supply other libraries or end users with articles or chapters of texts or sheet music of protected works by way of attachment to e-mail or on the web.

The new Section 16a, however, opens up a new door of opportunity for Norwegian libraries. Through agreements negotiated with collective management organisations such as Kopinor, libraries will have the possibility to make full use of digital technology in serving their users. Of course, such agreements cannot supersede license agreements which libraries already have entered into with individual rights holders, or be applied to works which already can be procured on-line.

Digitizing vast amounts of for example out-of-print works is an expensive and time-consuming task. Recent developments on both sides of the Atlantic seem to indicate, however, that there are third parties willing to fund such processes.

The new legislation in Norway came into force on 1 July 2005. So far libraries understandably have not requested negotiations regarding new analogue or digital uses. Kopinor, however, is prepared to enter into such negotiations, and looks forward to working with libraries in the digital environment.

All of Kopinors 21 member associations with the exception of one (the newspaper publishers) have already expressed their desire for Kopinor to enter into agreements with libraries regarding new uses of their works and publications.

The future will surely show that libraries and rights holders in Norway will join forces and cooperate closely in securing access to knowledge and culture in new and imaginative (or maybe even unimagined) ways. The legislation and the structures which can make this happen are in place.

Once more, welcome to Norway – also in the years to come.

John-Willy Rudolph
Executive Director
Kopinor