Communia – increase access to and re-use of culture and knowledge.

Beginning of the project

The European COMMUNIA association is a long-term partnership, focused on shaping public policies.

The association was founded in 2011 with the goal of advocating for all issues related to public domain in the digital environment. We are especially involved in advocating for copyright that does not limit the public domain and on research activities showing the value of the open. We work very closely with the Dutch Kennisland, Wikimedia Germany, Creative Commons Portugal and the global Creative Commons. Members of the association also include other organisations and individuals – mostly copyright experts. We all share the belief that the public domain is a common good that should be protected.

Activities

Together we work at the European level.We recommend changes that support the implementation of three principles (an expanded version of which can be found in our 14 Communia policy recommendations):

• exclusive rights should be limited, not expanded;
• the public domain shouldn’t be limited by legal or technical means;
• copyright limitations and exceptions should play an important role in adjusting copyright to technological developments.

With these principles in mind, we engage in discussions on public policy, analyse laws and their consequences, and increase awareness of the meaning of the public domain. Our activities include publications, meetings, conferences, consultations, research, participation in public consultations, cooperating with other associations and organisations in Brussels, Europe and the whole world. 

In the past we ran a dedicated project on the influence of copyright on education. Together with EDRI and Wikimedia Deutschland we organised the School of Rocking Copyright – a series of workshops for European copyright activists. We are also actively engaging with the World Intellectual Property Organisation and the European Union Intellectual Property Office – not from project to project, but on an everyday basis. We debate how the public domain can be strengthened in Europe and our respective countries, and take action – together we can do more.

As part of our research activities in 2021 we conducted an exploratory study in 7 European countries (Poland, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Italy, Czechia and Slovenia) on teachers’ practices in remote education. You can download the full report and read more about the key findings on a dedicated website.