Digitisation of the European cultural heritage is the challenge of the 21st century. Libraries, Archives, Museums, and other memory institutions have now the technological means to digitize their whole collections and make them available online. The potential for accessibility to cultural artefacts, with consequential benefits for research and study, is immense. However, in practice this type of undertaking is severely restricted due to the real or potential subsistence of copyright and related rights.
CIPPM is at the forefront of the research to develop solutions for the digitization of our cultural heritage. In 2013, the Centre Director, Professor Maurizio Borghi co-authored a monograph with Dr. Stavroula Karapapa titled ‘Copyright and Mass Digitization’ published by Oxford University Press. This book queries the normative and policy implications of this newly emerging framework of mass digitization in copyright law.
In July 2015 the EnDOW Project took off. This is a 3-year project co-funded by Heritage Plus and the European Commission, which sees the cooperation of several major European research centres (CREATe, University of Glasgow; IViR, University of Amsterdam; ASK, Bocconi University, Milan) under the leadership of CIPPM. The project developed the Diligent Search Tool, a pioneeristic platform for crowdsourcing diligent search with the goal of clearing the rights for the collections of cultural heritage institutions:
EnDOW Community: Unlocking Orphan Films - EnDOW Community is a one-year project n collaboration with the British Film Institute (BFI) funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). It is a collaboration aimed at enhancing the impact, engagement, and knowledge transfer around the EnDOW project (2015-2018). The EnDOW project has developed an online resource – the Diligent Search Tool – that... Read more » about EnDOW Community: Unlocking Orphan Films
EnDOW - Enhancing access to 20th Century cultural heritage through Distributed Orphan Works clearance (EnDOW) EnDOW is a 3-years collaborative project funded under Heritage Plus, a programme launched by agencies of 18 European countries and the European Commission as part of the Joint Programming Initiative in Cultural Heritage and Global Change. The project is a partnership of... Read more » about EnDOW
Copyright and the Regulation of Orphan Works - Copyright and the Regulation of Orphan Works, a report commissioned by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and co-authored by Dr. Marcella Favale, Dr. Fabian Homberg, Dr. Dinusha Mendis and Dr. Davide Secchi of the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM) at Bournemouth University and Professor Martin Krestchmer of CREATe, University of Glasgow was... Read more » about Copyright and the Regulation of Orphan Works
Melanie Brown: “Exploring Article 8 of the Copyright Directive: Hope for Cultural Heritage” - Working Paper No. 04-2020 June 2020 Article 8 of the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market addresses an issue that the cultural heritage sector has been struggling with for a long time: the exploitation of out of commerce works. Article 8(1) enables CHIs to agree non-exclusive licenses for non-commercial purposes with collective... Read more » about Melanie Brown: “Exploring Article 8 of the Copyright Directive: Hope for Cultural Heritage”
C. Op Den Kamp, B. Flueckiger D. and Pfluger – A Material-Based Approach to the Digitization of Early Applied Colours (2018) - Op Den Kamp, C., Flueckiger, B. and Pfluger, D., 2018. A Material-Based Approach to the Digitization of Early Applied Colors. In: Fossati, G., Jackson, V. and Lameris, B., eds. The Colour Fantastic. Chromatic Worlds of Silent Cinema. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 237-259. While the digitization of archival films has been practiced for more than a decade, there... Read more » about C. Op Den Kamp, B. Flueckiger D. and Pfluger – A Material-Based Approach to the Digitization of Early Applied Colours (2018)
C. Op Den Kamp, The Greatest Films Never Seen (2018) - Claudy Op Den Kamp, 2018. The Greatest Films Never Seen. The Film Archive and the Copyright Smokescreen. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. 
K. Patterson, R. Deazley & V. Stobo – Diligent Search in Context and Practice” (2016) - K. Patterson, R. Deazley & V. Stobo “Diligent Search in Context and Practice” (Digitising the Edwin Morgan Scrapbooks) – 2016 Carrying out a diligent search is a requirement of both the EU Orphan Works Directive[1] and the UK Intellectual Property Office’s Orphan Works Licensing Scheme (OWLS). Diligent search is a time-consuming exercise for any digitisation project... Read more » about K. Patterson, R. Deazley & V. Stobo – Diligent Search in Context and Practice” (2016)
C. Op Den Kamp – The Paper Print Collection: How Copyright Formalities and Historical Accidents Led to Film History (2017) - Claudy Op Den Kamp, 2017. The Paper Print Collection: How Copyright Formalities and Historical Accidents Led to Film History. UWA Law Review, 41 (2), 37-50.. Prior to the 1912 Townsend Amendment in US copyright law, motion pictures could not be registered as such for copyright protection. Seeking protection against competitors, filmmakers in the formative years of... Read more » about C. Op Den Kamp – The Paper Print Collection: How Copyright Formalities and Historical Accidents Led to Film History (2017)
M. Borghi, K. Erickson and M. Favale – With enough eyeballs all searches are diligent (2017) - Maurizio Borghi, Kris Erickson and Marcella Favale “With enough eyeballs all searches are diligent: Mobilizing the crowd in copyright clearance for mass digitization”. Journal of Intellectual Property, 9 (1) (2017), 135-166 Digitization of 20th Century cultural heritage is severely restricted due to the real or potential subsistence of copyright and related rights. Under the laws... Read more » about M. Borghi, K. Erickson and M. Favale – With enough eyeballs all searches are diligent (2017)
D. Mendis and V. Stobo – UK: Extended Collective Licensing (2014) - D. Mendis and V. Stobbo, UK: Extended Collective Licensing [3 December 2014] Kluwer Copyright Blog at UK: Extended Collective Licensing – Kluwer Copyright Blog On the 1st October 2014, the Copyright and Rights in Performances (Extended Collective Licensing) Regulations 2014 came into force in the UK. This blog post considers the latest developments and what... Read more » about D. Mendis and V. Stobo – UK: Extended Collective Licensing (2014)
M. Borghi and S. Karapapa – Copyright and Mass Digitization (2013) - Maurizio Borghi and Stavroula Karapapa Copyright and Mass Digitization: A cross-jurisdictional perspective, Oxford University Press: 2013 Mass digitization of texts, images, and other creative works promises to unprecedentedly enhance access to culture and knowledge. With the electronic ‘library of Alexandria’ having started to materialize, a number of legal and policy issues have emerged. The book develops... Read more » about M. Borghi and S. Karapapa – Copyright and Mass Digitization (2013)
M. Favale, M. Kretschmer, D. Mendis, F. Homberg and D. Secchi – A Comparative Review of the Treatment of Orphan Works (2013) - Marcella Favale, Martin Kretschmer, Dinusha Mendis, Fabian Homberg and Davide Secchi – A Comparative Review of the Treatment of Orphan Works. UK Intellectual Property Office, 2013 Dowload the report here.
Unlocking Orphan Films: Introducing the EnDOW Community November 18, 2020 - Live streaming event in collaboration with BFI, Wednesday 18 November 2020
The new Copyright Directive: what opportunities for cultural heritage institutions? September 20, 2019 - Workshop - Friday 20 September 10:00 - 13:30
Digitization and access to cultural heritage collections: understanding the law and practice September 19, 2019 - Short Course - Thursday 19 September 10:00 - 17:00
Diligent search in the EU: Challenges and opportunities May 15, 2018 - EnDOW Final Conference. Alicante (Spain) 15 May 2018 EnDOW Community: Unlocking Orphan Films March 25, 2020 - EnDOW Community is a one-year project n collaboration with the British Film Institute (BFI) funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). It is a collaboration aimed at enhancing the impact, engagement, and knowledge transfer around the EnDOW project (2015-2018). The EnDOW project has developed an online resource – the Diligent Search Tool – that... Read more » about EnDOW Community: Unlocking Orphan Films
Benjamin White joins CIPPM as PhD researcher September 23, 2019 - CIPPM welcomes Benjamin White, who has started his journey as PhD candidate at Bournemouth University. Prior to joining Bournemouth University, Ben was Head of Intellectual Property at the British Library. He also participated in a 2 year European Commission funded project called Future TDM, looking at the barriers to further uptake in Europe of data... Read more » about Benjamin White joins CIPPM as PhD researcher
Why tech giants have little to lose (and lots to win) from new EU copyright law: an opinion by prof. Borghi published on The Conversation September 20, 2018 - The newly approved EU copyright directive has been largely described as an encroachment on bargaining power of US tech giants like Google and Facebook vis-à-vis European publishers and copyright holders. In an article published by The Conversation (here), prof. Borghi explains why, in reality, the directive will benefit Internet giants more than publishers, creators and European... Read more » about Why tech giants have little to lose (and lots to win) from new EU copyright law: an opinion by prof. Borghi published on The Conversation A platform for diligent search of orphan works across Europe July 11, 2018 - The EnDOW project aimed at studying and facilitating Diligent Search to clear the rights of Orphan Works was concluded on the 31st of May 2018. Its final conference, held at the EUIPO in Alicante on the 15th of May 2018, brought together the results of the three-years research, as well as a discussion on the best... Read more » about A platform for diligent search of orphan works across Europe
CIPPM researchers at the 10th Annual Workshop of ISHTIP July 11, 2018 - The 10th Annual Workshop of the International Society for the History and Theory of Intellectual Property (ISHTIP) workshop was held at University Roma Tre on 3rd-6th July 2018. The theme of the workshop was Intellectual Property and Heritage and the range of papers discussed was extremely broad, with discussions on topics such as how indigenous... Read more » about CIPPM researchers at the 10th Annual Workshop of ISHTIP
