CommonsDB – Feasibility Study, part 2

A new European initiative, CommonsDB, has introduced a decentralized infrastructure for recording and verifying copyright statements, with a focus on public domain works. Within this framework, official cultural institutions record and verify rights statements. The pilot phase was implemented in collaboration with the Europeana Foundation, Wikimedia Sverige, Liccium, and the Institute for Information Law (IViR) at the University of Amsterdam, combining technical infrastructure, legal documentation, and practical application by cultural organizations.

During the pilot phase:

• Over 300,000 verified rights statements have been recorded,

• The statements are cryptographically signed and machine-readable,

• A trust model is applied that works in practice, with institutional responsibility of the organizations issuing the statements.

The full study includes:

• Operational and technical conclusions from the system’s implementation,

• The legal framework supporting verifiable rights statements,

• As well as a roadmap for further scaling the infrastructure, aiming to support millions of statements by mid-2026.

The CommonsDB initiative aims to make a substantial contribution to strengthening legal certainty and promoting the reuse of public domain works within the context of open access and digital cultural heritage.

Read the full study here.