The second event of this year’s IFRRO International Conference (IC), UN Sustainable Development Goals: The Way Ahead for Publishing and the Content Industries, on 10 November, noon CET is now open for registration.

IFRRO is launching its 2021 International Conference, an open event, with a series of three symposia with the overall theme Copyright & Collective Licensing: New Demands in the New Decade. These events kindly programmed by Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) will comprise three 60 minutes virtual events, featuring each three speakers from different organizations, industries and countries.

The IFRRO community is saddened to learn about the passing of Mr Taichi Seo, the President of JRRC. Our thoughts are with Mr Seo’s family and our colleagues at JRRC.

After almost 10 years of litigation, the Supreme Court of Canada recently issued its decision in the Access Copyright vs York University case. The Court determined that a tariff set by the Copyright Board is not mandatory and also declined to declare York University's copyright policies to be fair dealing. This means that the long standing question of the scope of educational fair dealing in Canada is still unanswered.  

A year ago, WIPO launched a ground-breaking initiative to support creators all around the world. We are pleased to report that IFRRO has formally joined this initiative.

Copibec, one of IFRRO’s RRO member in Canada, recently appointed Mr. Christian Laforce as the new Executive Director. In a press release, Copibec shared Mr Laforce’s expertise. He has worked in the field of culture and the arts for over 20 years, held several management and advisory positions and served on various boards of directors at the local, regional and national levels.

At its midterm meeting in May, IFRRO’s Board decided that the 2021 Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held in a virtual setting for a second year in a row. The meeting will take place on Wednesday, 3 Nov 2021 at 13:00 CET. The decision is as a result of the exceptional circumstances linked to the evolution of the pandemic and its impact in different parts of the world.

IFRRO is delighted to welcome two new members: COSOZA (Copyright Society of Zanzibar) and FEMU (Dutch Federation of Music Authors and Publishers).

On 16 June, IFRRO launched the second ‘Re:start conversations’ event, together with our partners EVA, EWC and FEP, entitled “Investing in a high-quality digital education ecosystem is investing in democracy” (see the programme here).

On 7 June 2021 - the deadline for EU Member States to implement the EU’s Copyright in the Digital Single Market (“DSM”) Directive - IFRRO, Europeana, EVA and FEP together organised an event to mark the launch of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) out-of-commerce works (OOCW)