The purpose of the Green Paper is to foster a debate on how knowledge for research, science and education can best be disseminated in the online environment. The Green Paper aims to set out a number of issues connected with the role of copyright in the "knowledge economy" and intends to launch a consultation on these issues.

In its review of the Single Market, the Commission highlighted the need to promote free movement of knowledge and innovation as the "Fifth Freedom" in the single market. The Green Paper will focus on how research, science and educational materials are disseminated to the public and whether knowledge is freely circulating in the internal market. But the Green Paper is not limited to scientific and educational material. Material not falling within these parameters but which has value in enhancing knowledge is also within the scope of this Green Paper.

The Green Paper is essentially structured in two parts:

The first part deals with general issues regarding exceptions to exclusive rights introduced in the main piece of European copyright legislation - Directive 2001/29/EC on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society. The other piece of copyright legislation that is relevant for the knowledge economy, Directive 96/9/EC on the legal protection of databases, has been analysed in a separate report. Nevertheless, some aspects of this directive, such as exceptions and limitations, are also addressed in this report.

The second part deals with specific issues related to the exceptions and limitations which are most relevant for the dissemination of knowledge and whether these exceptions should evolve in the era of digital dissemination.

The Directive has harmonised the right of reproduction, the right of communication to the public, the right of making available to the public and the distribution right. The basic principle underlying the harmonisation effort was to provide the rightholders with a high level of protection; hence the scope of exclusive rights was very broadly defined. Some stakeholders question whether the introduction of exclusive rights translates into a fair share of income for all the categories of rights holders. Authors (such as composers, film directors, and journalists) and, in particular, performers argue that they have not earned any significant revenue from the exercise of the new "making available" right in relation to the online exploitation of their works.

Apart from adapting the exclusive rights to the online environment, the Directive introduced an exhaustive list of exceptions to copyright protection, although there was no international obligation to do so. The primary reason for having such a list of exceptions appears to be to limit Member States' ability to introduce new exceptions or extend the scope of the existing ones beyond what is allowed under the Directive. Gradually, in the legislative process, Member States introduced the current list of one mandatory exception and 20 optional exceptions.

The Green Paper focuses on the exceptions to copyright which are most relevant for the dissemination of knowledge, namely:

• The exception for the benefit of libraries and archives.
• The exception allowing dissemination of works for teaching and research purposes.
• The exception for the benefit of people with a disability.
• A possible exception for user-created content.

A forward looking analysis requires consideration of whether the balance provided by the Directive is still in line with the rapidly changing environment. Technologies and social and cultural practices are constantly challenging the balance achieved in the law, while new market players, such as search engines, seek to apply these changes to new business models. It is in these circumstances that the Green Paper seeks all stakeholders' views as to the technological and legal developments.

Answers and comments, which may cover all or only a limited number of the issues addressed in the Green Paper, should be sent by 30 November 2008 to: markt-d1@ec.europa.eu.

Knowledge Economy

The term "knowledge economy" is commonly used to describe economic activity that relies not on "natural" resources (like land or minerals) but on intellectual resources such as know-how and expertise. A key concept of the knowledge economy is that knowledge and education (also referred to as "human capital") can be treated as a commercial asset or as educational and intellectual products and services that can be exported for a high value return. It is obvious that the knowledge economy is rather more important for those regions whose natural resources are scarce.