BREAKING: Do not expect to read the EU copyright White Paper while on your summer holiday

Claire was waiting for the White Paper,
but now she will have
to sleep on read the sports papers instead

Last month this blog published an internal draft of the forthcoming White Paper on "A Copyright Policy for Creativity and Innovation in the European Union". 

This is the document that Commission Vice-President Michel Barnier announced for release before the summer break, following the conclusion of the Public Consultation on the Review of EU Copyright Rules [here and here] and, before that, Licences for Europe [here]. 

The purpose of the White Paper "is to examine whether and how further action on the current system of rights, their licensing and exercise, the exceptions to rights and their enforcement is warranted at EU level."

Those who were waiting for the release of the official White Paper to have something to read while on holiday will likely have to consider alternative readings [check this out: chick-lit, IP-style! "When chic Parisian lawyer Catherine Lambert lands her dream job as intellectual property director for Christian Dior, she is on top of the world. She’s prepared to embark on the ride of her life in the world of fashion, fighting high-profile legal battles against international counterfeiters. She’ll also be reunited with colleague-turned-boyfriend Antoine in her beloved hometown." How dreamy!]. 

A less-cheerful-than-usual
Michel Barnier

The White Paper was going to be discussed next week, but it has now been removed from the agenda, and publication may now be expected in September [really?].

According to an article appeared yesterday on EuropeanVoice and that this Kat discovered on Twitter via Katfriend Paul Keller, this is because there may be disagreement between Mr Barnier (who is also the Commissioner for Internal Market and Services) and Neelie Kroes, who is the Commissioner in charge of the Digital Agenda, over the general geist of this EU document.

IPKat readers will remember that the latter also recently spoke of the need to reform EU copyright ambitiously. 

Apparently Ms Kroes thinks that the draft White Paper is not ambitious enough [well, says Merpel, let's say it is not ambitious at all], and her views have found support in other Commissioners, including Màire Geoghegan-Quinn, who is the Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science.

Still according to the article, the White Paper has been sent back to officials for further inter-departmental consultations, with the intention of building greater consensus around it.

What is likely to happen before the summer break is that the Commission will publish a report on the 11,117 responses that the Public Consultation attracted. Oh well, perhaps you may want to read that while sunbathing. Stay tuned for further updates!