Press release: LERU rejects European Publishers Council’s suggestions on Text and Data Mining

LERU, with LIBER (Association of European Research Libraries) has issued a renunciation of the EPC’s position on Text and Data Mining (TDM). LIBER and LERU have released a letter which publicly states our opposition to the European Publishers Council’s EPC Copyright Vision Paper 2014: Copyright Enabled on the Network. LIBER and LERU simply reject the statements in the EPC Copyright Vision Paper covering Text and Data Mining.

The EPC document says:

“The focus of demands for an exception hitherto has been on the potential for research through automated text and data mining technologies of the world’s corpus of academic and scientific journals. In our view this is “a snare and a delusion” perpetrated by those intent on gaining free access to the widest possible body of copyright works in the name of research, going way beyond scientific journals, to works of all published authors, as well as Europe’s news media and entertainment.” (p. 48)

Neither LIBER nor LERU recognises their request for an Exception in European copyright frameworks to accommodate Text and Data Mining as ‘a snare and a delusion’. Both organisations are fully committed to seeking such an Exception in the forthcoming EU copyright review to promote the ability of European researchers to compete at a global level. This position is fully in line with the EC Expert Group’s recommendations on Text and Data Mining. LIBER’s Factsheet on Text and Data Mining, which more fully outlines our position, is also available here.

LERU’s position on Text and Data Mining is that there is an urgent need for a new Exception in European copyright legislation to accommodate this. Relying on a licensing approach is simply absurd. What is needed is an Exception in European copyright legislation to allow TDM. Several countries, including the UK, already have such allowances in their national copyright frameworks. Why should the rest of Europe be neglected? An Exception in European copyright frameworks to allow TDM to content which universities already license is clearly the way forward. It would be good for Europe, good for the European economy and good for research.