Publishers require new cultural model for the 21st century and copyright protection

Publishers and experts participating in the first day of the European seminar "The digitisation of cultural materials" yesterday called for new legal and technological measures to protect authors' rights and to slow down the harmful effects of piracy of intellectual piracy.

During the meeting, which ends on Tuesday, the 150 experts and publishers explained how 20th century regulations are burdening the cultural and creative industry.

“The 20th century ecosystem of the world of books is no longer sustainable in the 21st century”, said Javier Celaya, founding member of the website Dosdoce.Com. Similar views were expressed by other professionals participating in the event, with calls for new models to be put in place which take into account the digital revolution and which include content generated by users on the internet.

The MEP Marielle Gallo made the following assertion: “Digital technology has led to a genuine cultural revolution which needs to be addressed and the publishing sector is already lagging behind on this issue”. And all of this protecting the rights of all those involved, including creators and artists.

Aldo Olcese, president of the Coalition of Content Industries and Creators, was in favour of the legal model that Spain hopes to introduce which involves "pursuing the large-scale producers of piracy, rather than users”.

Digital alliance of libraries

Around 200 Spanish publishers have already joined the ENCLAVE project, which enables sales and enquiries to be made via the Biblioteca Digital Hispánica (Hispanic Digital Library). At present this collection holds more than 1,300 works subject to copyright, which will soon increase with the inclusion of an additional 1,500 books, according to Antonio María de Ávila, Executive Director of the Federation of Spanish Publishers' Guilds.

In his opinion, the ENCLAVE project shows that collaboration between libraries and the cultural industry "is possible and necessary" and also counteracts the unjustified reputation publishers have of being "reactionaries who are opposed to new technologies".

For her part, the director of the Spanish National Library, Milagros del Corral, announced that, as a result of the sponsorship agreement signed with Telefónica, 200,000 works are set to be digitised between now and 2013, of which some 30,000 are already available.In total, the initiative will digitise around 5.8 million pages.

For his part, Santiago de la Mora, Manager of Google Books, defended the need to form "strategic alliances" with the libraries of each country and with publishers in order to facilitate the consultation of books via the internet.


> Link to the work programme of the European seminar "The digitisation of cultural materials. Digital libraries and copyright" [PDF in Spanish]