Document Freedom Day: Open Standards in the e-Book market

Brussels, 28 March 2012

E-Books in the Digital Agenda

for Europe

Carl-Christian Buhr

(All expressed views are those of the speaker.)http://slidesha.re/ebookeu

http://bit.ly/cc_buhr, @ccbuhr

http://bit.ly/NeelieKroesEU,@NeelieKroesEU

http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda

DAE

101 Actions

http://bit.ly/NeelieKroesEU,@NeelieKroesEU

Advising on...

ICT StandardisationInteroperabilityICT Research PolicyCloud ComputingKey Enabling Technologiesetc.

http://bit.ly/cc_buhr,@ccbuhr

http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda

101 Actions

The Commission has a role...

...Policy Maker

Launches policy debates

Invites Member States to take action

Proposes EU legislation

Supports coordination

...Funding Agency

Research & Innovation projects

...Information producer

Reports, studies, proposals and other

documents that should be readable

Some History...

16 December 2009: Commission-brokered Microsoft Public Interoperability Undertaking, e.g. ODF support and other standard formats and protocols

(Link Commission, Link Microsoft)

Neelie Kroes speeches on open standards in the public sector, interoperability more generally:

1. 10 June 2008 (“Being Open about Standards”)

2. 10 June 2010 (

“How to get more interoperability in Europe”)

Interoperability & Standardsin the Digital Agenda

“We need effective interoperability between IT products and services to build a truly digital

society.”

A Digital Agenda for Europe (COM(2010)245, 19.05.2010),http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52010DC0245R(01):EN:NOT

(ICT) Standardisation Reform (2011)

Guidance on standardisation (2011)

Public procurement & Standards (2012)

EU Interoperability Framework (2010)

Interoperability w/o standards (2012)

Digital Agenda Actions

http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda

Open Standards for e-Books -A Better Deal for Readers

“[...] that people can buy content for any

device from any supplier, transfer that

content between their own devices, and

keep possession of it even beyond the

device's lifespan. That could deliver

openness, freedom and choice for the

consumer - with benefits too for smaller

market players like independent

bookshops. Open standards already exist

in this field [...]”

Books in the 21st century Opening address to representatives & members of Federation of European Publishers,

Frankfurt Book fair, 13 October 2011.

Issues 1: Commercial

Clear deal for consumers? (DRM? Which uses? How long?

On which devices? Is transfer possible/simple?)

Owner or licensor? (Analogy to buying or lending?)

Likely scenarios? (Lending-only, buying-only, hybrids,

price differentials?)

(Linked to, but different from, discussions on

copyright & its exceptions, general (and trusted)

computing etc. Cf., one example of many, R. Stallman‘s

dystopia The Right to Read.)

Avoiding bottlenecks

Open access to publicy funded research.

Availability of textbooks and educational material.

Archiving and Preservation

Legal deposit and eBooks?

European Digital Library: www.europeana.eu

Proposed Directive on orphan works

Memorandum of Understanding on out-of-commerce works

Issues 2: Cultural

Final thought...

“Member States may apply a reduced VAT rate to certain cultural products but have to apply the standard rate to competing on-line

services such as e-books”

Green Paper on the future of VAT (p. 15, 1 December 2010).

https://twitter.com/NeelieKroesEU/status/163988964754202625

Selected Pointers

The Digital Agenda for Europehttp://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda

Interoperability & Standards Digital Agenda actionshttp://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/pillar.cfm?pillar_id=44

Neelie Kroes SpeechesBeing open about standards: http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/08/317

More interoperability: http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/10/300Books in the 21st century: http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/11/660

The European Commission and Open Access to the results of publicly funded research

http://slidesha.re/euopenaccess

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