The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has published a study on the databases and metadata standards used across the European Union to record information relating to copyright-protected works. The study represents the first step towards the development of a new interoperability service, CopyrightView.
The research highlights the current landscape of information infrastructures related to works, rights holders, and content licensing terms, identifying key challenges such as data fragmentation, lack of interoperability, and the diversity of technical approaches among public and private databases.
Key Findings
- Information on copyright-protected works remains highly fragmented across Europe, resulting in duplicate records, inconsistencies in metadata, and increased administrative and financial costs.
- Existing international standards and identifiers, such as ISBN, ISWC, ISRC, ISNI, ONIX, and DDEX, provide an important foundation for interoperability. However, their implementation remains uneven across different sectors and countries.
- Stakeholders generally express support for a European interoperability initiative, provided that the role and responsibility of the original data providers are preserved.
- CopyrightView is recognized as a tool with significant potential in areas such as information discovery, metadata matching, licensing facilitation, and the management of text and data mining (TDM) opt-outs in the context of artificial intelligence applications.
- The study highlights the need for further information, training, and awareness-raising regarding copyright infrastructures within the European Union.
Next Steps
EUIPO is expected to establish a dedicated expert group in the near future to explore the technical and operational feasibility of the project. Broader consultations with stakeholders from the copyright ecosystem are also planned.
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