Copyright legislation impacts the activities of cultural heritage institutions whose collections often contain materials that are subject to copyright or neighbouring rights protection. While not all items in the collections of cultural heritage institutions are subject to copyright, some are, resulting in cultural heritage professionals having to put processes in place to manage these rights. This becomes particularly relevant when cultural heritage institutions undergo digitisation projects with the aim of making these materials widely available to the public and facilitate their reuse. The copyright in the digital single market Directive is particularly relevant in this area because it brings forward solutions to facilitate the management of copyright in such scenarios.
The copyright in the digital single market Directive supports the digital and social transformation of the cultural heritage sector as it facilitates the digitisation and dissemination of cultural heritage online for public interest purposes. It establishes a number of exceptions to copyright (whose transposition in member state law is mandatory) facilitating the use of data mining techniques to analyse large amounts of materials that might be subject to copyright protection, to make copies for preservation purposes, or to use copyright-protected materials in digital and cross-border teaching activities. It also establishes a provision that safeguards the public domain, and finally a system for the digitisation and dissemination of materials in the permanent collections of cultural heritage institutions that are subject to copyright protection but no longer in commercial circulation.
