Author's Right, Copyright and Free Licenses for Culture on the Web/Web Tools/Sharing

== 64. Can I freely upload on the web site of the cultural institution for which I work the digital sources (like photographs, videos, images, sounds, drawings, memes, gifs, writings, symbols, logos) found on the Internet or through social media or through other digital channels? == Domestic and European Union legislation for the protection of copyright requires the mention of the author and / or digital source, which is intended to be shared on the Internet. In the case the content is without source or mention of the author, it is necessary to search the source and / or author as far as possible, using the best efforts.

65. How should I mention the source?
The source is usually mentioned according to the request of the author or the site or the media from which it was taken. Otherwise, it is advisable to identify the subject or source, place and date of issue, and the related digital source, for example by reporting the link to the Internet site with the date of consultation of the site.

66. If the author is not identifiable or does not respond to the request for consent?
If, despite all best efforts, no response is given to the request of consent or the author is not identifiable, it is better to share or to mention that searches were carried out (through request of consent) with no results.

67. When is it possible to apply the law on orphan works?
The European Directive on orphan works, which entered into force in 2012, provides for a number of cases in which the orphan work can be used by cultural heritage institutions. The legislation provides that a 'diligent search' (a thorough search to identify and / or locate the author of the copyrighted material or other rights holders) is required to establish orphan work status within the former Member State publication, for this purpose by consulting a public online database, which contains information on orphan works, including: the results of searches for rights holders; the use of orphan works by organizations; changes in the status of the orphan work used. In this way, research organizations and rights holders will be able to easily find information on the identification and use of orphan works. Organizations affected by the EU Directive may use an orphan work only for the achievement of objectives related to their mission of public interest: making the orphan work available to the public; acts of reproduction, for the purposes of digitization, making available, indexing, cataloging, conservation or restoration. Organizations may generate revenues in the course of such uses, for the sole purpose of covering the costs related to digitizing orphan works and making them available to the public. The declaration of "orphan work" then allows individual Member States to place a limitation on the right of reproduction and making it available to the public in favor of institutions for the protection of cultural heritage. Works considered as orphans in one EU country have the same status in all other EU countries. In the event that the holder of the rights of what is considered an orphan work claims these rights, the Directive provides for the possibility of ending the status of orphan work and to pay fair compensation. If it is a non-EU publication, search must be done on their sources. After carrying out diligent search on the online public database, you need to wait for 90 days before you can digitize and publish the work online. But the author could always be entitled to appear and request for the withdrawal of all or part of the work or exercise their rights.


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68. When is it possible to apply the discipline of out-of-commerce works?
A recent European Directive (Directive 2019/790/EU) provides mechanisms for the collective management of rights of use or, failing that, a real exception to exclusive rights to allow that, under certain conditions, the works out-of-commerce can be reused by public institutions for the protection of the cultural heritage that hold them, from libraries to archives and museums. Such Directive introduces a new licensing mechanism for out-of-commerce works. This will make it much easier for cultural heritage institutions, such as archives and museums, to obtain the necessary licenses to disclose the cultural heritage in their collections to the public online and across borders. This system makes it much easier for cultural heritage institutions to obtain licenses by negotiating with collective management organizations representing the relevant right holders. The new rules also provide for a new mandatory exception to copyright for cases where there is no collective management organization representing the right holders in a certain sector, for which cultural heritage institutions have no counterpart to negotiate with to obtain licenses. This so-called "fallback" exception allows cultural heritage institutions to make out-of-commerce works available on non-commercial websites.


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