Six speakers presented and explored how the Nordic Model could contribute to making cultural heritage available in light of recent discussions on transborder licensing, as well as the anticipated Commission initiative on orphan works. 

"For some years now, a point on the copyright agenda has been how to meet the challenges and take advantage of the internet, and how to clear the necessary rights in order to make our cultural heritage material available", deputy Secretary-General of EFTA, Bergdis Ellertsdóttir, said in her welcoming speech.

Ms Vigdis Moe Skarstein, Director of the National Library in Norway and a member of the Executive Committee of the Conference of European Librarians, presented the National Library’s "Digital Bookshelf" project. She also disclosed that the Norwegian Minister of Culture would propose that her Nordic colleagues set up a treaty committing the Nordic countries to mutually recognise each other's extended collective agreements on copyright. The suggestion will be to set up a working group under the Nordic Council mandated to draft a proposal for this treaty. Such a treaty would enable projects like the "Digital Bookshelf" to become accessible to audiences in all of the Nordic countries. 

"This is very important work in order to be able to preserve our cultural heritage", Moe Skarstein said.

The seminar closed after a vivid panel discussion with all the speakers.

Three of the panel members at the seminar: Mr Jukka Liedes, Director of the Division for Cultural Policy, Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland; Dr Tilman Lueder, Head of the Copyright Unit at the European Commission; and Mr Haijo Ruijsenaars, Head of Intellectual Property of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Other members of the panel, in addition to Ms Moe Skarstein and Mr Sønneland (see photo above), were Ms Caroline Reiler, Head of Intellectual Property, Danish Broadcasting Corporation; and Mr Ole-Andras Rognstad, Professor, University of Oslo.

The presentations can be found here:

Caroline Reiler, Danish Broadcasting Corporation

Professor Ole-Andreas Rognstad, Institute for Private Law, Univeristy of Oslo

Vigdis Moe Skarstein, National Librarian, Nasjonalbiblioteket 

To see more pictures from the seminar, click on the image below to open the album.