PPEU wiki

When copyright was originally created, it simply governed the right of an author to be acknowledged as such. Later it was broadened to cover the commercial copying of works as well as to limit the natural rights of private citizens and non-profit organizations. This shift of the balance is the basis of today's established and unacceptable development. Business and technological developments have brought the copyright laws out of balance, bringing unjust advantages to a few large commercial actors at a cost to consumers, authors, and society as a whole. Millions of classsical musical pieces, films and books become hostages held in the safes of giant media corporations, not in demand enough by their target audiences to be re-published, but potentially too profitable simply to be released. Our cultural heritage must be liberated and made accessible to all before time destroys it all. Intangible laws can grant intangible values tangible qualities. Ideas, knowledge, and information are, however, by nature non-exclusive and their common value lies in their inherent ability to be shared and distributed.

Copyright must be returned to its origins. The laws must be changed so that only the commercial use and the copying of protected works is regulated. To share copies or works for general use or otherwise to distribute or use them should never be illegal, as such a fair use benefits the whole society.

The duration of commercial copyright protection, that is, the duration of monopoly control over duplication of a work for commercial purposes, must be reduced. It is particularly incomprehensible that copyright should be valid for decades after an author's death. The right to create derivative works should be so adjusted that everyone has the immediate right to produce such works. Every exception to this rule, for example, the translation of books or the use of protected music in films, should be specifically enumerated in the laws.

The non-commercial collection, use, manipulation and distribution of culture shall be expressly allowed. Technologies that affect the legal rights of consumers to copy or use information or cultural works, the so-called DRM (Digital Rights Management) and regional codes (the artificial introduction of regional borders outside of which a digital product cannot be used) should be forbidden. Contractual agreements that serve to hinder the legal distribuion of information, should be declared void. The non-commercial distribution of public cultural goods, knowledge or information–with the clear exception of personal information–must not be limited or punished. Usage taxes on blank media should also be eliminated.

Legalize non-commercial exchange of data (so-called file-sharing) in both directions.
Limit copyright. A work should enter the public domain much sooner.
Prohibit artificial limits to access (DRM, regional codes).
Revise copyright law to combat the contemporary favoring of art suitable for mass distribution.
Broaden the right to cite film, picture and sound documents.