Launching a research network in the region
On Friday 23 June 2023, a webinar entitled “Copyright and Legal Basis for Generative Artificial Intelligence Training” was held as the inaugural event of the Knowledge Rights 21 research network for the Western Balkans region. The research network will study and discuss key issues in the field of Intellectual Property in the region.
The webinar brought together prominent experts from Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and North Macedonia. The event is part of the national Open Knowledge Day initiative and the national and regional coordination activities carried out by ODIPI under the auspices of Knowledge Rights 21.
At the event, Silvia Bottaro, from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, presented the European perspective on “Copyright and access and re-use of scientific publications and data“, followed by a presentation by researchers on the text and data mining regime in their countries. Prof. Dr. Ivana Kunda, from the Faculty of Law, University of Rijeka, presented the regulation in Croatia, Dr. Maja Bogataj Jančič (ODIPI) presented the current regulation in Slovenia, Prof. Dr. Iza Razija Mešević presented a proposal for regulation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Prof. Dr. Neda Zdraveva presented a proposal for regulation in North Macedonia. Prof. Dr. Dušan V. Popović, from the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade, presented only the general framework of exceptions and limitations for research in Serbia, as there is no activity in their country to adopt appropriate exceptions for text and data mining.
The launch of the research network is a first step towards better cooperation between copyright researchers in the region. A conference and workshop will also be organised in Ljubljana in October to continue presenting the results of the research on text and data mining in the region, and to discuss other copyright topics in the field of research and open science.
In June 2024, the Knowledge Rights 21 (KR21) network and Communia, published research findings in a publication entitled Copyright as an Access Right: Concretizing Positive Obligations for Rightholders to Ensure the Exercise of User Rights, which was authored by professors Christophe Geiger and Bernd Justin Jütte.
On Thursday, July 4, 2024, TV SLO 1 aired a new show Conversations about the Future with the subtitle Alternative Futures, in which three guests reflected on the dilemmas and opportunities of an increasingly digitized society. In addition to Dr. Maja Bogataj Jančič from ODIPI, were also anthropologists Dr. Dan Podjed from ZRC SAZU and computer engineer Dr. Blaž Zupan from the Faculty of Computer Science and Informatics UL.
In the first week of July 2024, the Summer Course on International Copyright Law and Policy took place in Amsterdam, which was also attended by the young researcher Laura Pipan from ODIPI.
On Friday, June 14, 2024, the second day of the Global Conference on AI and Human Rights took place at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana. Dr. Maja Bogataj Jančič gave a lecture as part of the 14th panel entitled AI and Intellectual Property: Revolution or Robbery?