Why Europe needs a digital knowledge act – EURACTIV.com

"University researchers lack access to essential data, impeding their ability to conduct the same state-of-the-art research done in other parts of the world. At the same time, they are often legally prohibited from sharing digital research resources with colleagues, which impairs research transparency and collaborations across borders.

On top of that, a big chunk of published research funded with public money through Horizon Europe or other public sources ends up locked behind paywalls, putting a huge financial burden on research institutions that need to access it.

Even where knowledge institutions are permitted by law to access or share certain materials, they often shy away from doing so out of fear of being sued. In the US, public interest institutions are protected from paying damages when they act in good faith, believing that their actions are permitted by law. In Europe, the lack of such safeguards, combined with a highly complex and fragmented legal framework, has a chilling effect on practitioners’ exercise of user rights...

We need a targeted intervention to empower knowledge institutions to carry out their public service mission in the digital environment. This includes some surgical interventions in copyright law, such as a legal solution for e-lending by libraries, but mostly measures that go beyond previous discussions about copyright."