Representatives of the public research sector in Europe (LERU, CESAER, EUA, LIBER and Science Europe) call with a united voice on European legislators to remove the barriers to research and innovation that exist in the European Commission (EC)´s legislative proposal for copyright. The joint statement outlines the ways in which the EC´s proposal on copyright should be amended so as to ensure that the EU copyright framework is well-suited for R&I and supportive of the Digital Single Market Strategy. This statement captures the central claims made by LERU during the past years with regard to text and data mining; education and research and ancillary copyright. We have the technologies with which Europe’s research and innovation communities can thrive. Now we need the regulatory framework that allows them to do it: now and for the future. The time to act is now!