Neighbouring Rights, Publishers, and a TDM Exception

Until now, the copyright reform process initiated by the European Commission had brought some hope for text and data mining (TDM) researchers, when it announced a TDM exception in the European copyright framework in its communication Towards a modern, more European copyright framework. While we are still awaiting the actual proposal and design of such exception, the Commission has launched a public consultation on 23 March, which includes a section on the role of publishers in the copyright chain. This section covers questions related to the possible effects of an introduction of a neighbouring right for publishers. It ties perfectly in with the Commission’s ambition to strive for “a well-functioning market place for copyright [with] the possibility for right holders to license and be paid for the use of their content, including content distributed online”. It is questionable whether such a neighbouring right is really much-needed and whether it might have a disruptive effect on the balance between exclusive rights and exceptions that exists under the copyright regime and that is achieved with a future TDM exception. Therefore, it is important to assess what the effect of these neighbouring rights on the uptake of TDM research in the EU could be. All of this depends on how this right is designed and what exceptions are provided.