Common sense into
copyright law
Sign the law proposal
Read more
Read through the law proposal summary, information about the Finnish citizen initative, or the official law proposal (in Finnish).
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Spread the knowledge by discussing and linking, for instance in the social media.
Take part
If you have already signed, or you want to help in getting the campaign forward, join as a signature collector or take part in the other activities. Invite your friends too!
Read more
Signatures are needed! Order a bunch of forms and already-paid return envelopes (in Finnish).
The law proposal in a nutshell
"Common sense to the copyright law" ("Järkeä tekijänoikeuslakiin") is a citizens' initiative, which is aimed at making the Finnish copyright law make more sense. By law, the citizens' initiative law proposal will end up directly in the parliament, if 50 000 Finnish citizens sign the initiative.
Summary
A summary of the law proposal (in Finnish) for those, who can't read it through:
The main aim of the law proposal is to fix the excesses of the current copyright legislation in the areas of network surveillance and damages.
The law proposal does not make unauthorized downloading of content legal. However, instead of charging an individual for a copyright felony for such an offence, it will be made punishable as a copyright misdemeanour. The law proposal also limits the extent of private network surveillance.
The more serious charge, copyright felony, makes it possible to perform house searches, confiscation and large damage fees — in the current legislation, also lesser offences are treated as felonies. In the law proposal, copyright felony charges would be used only for those involved in commerical or extensive copyright infringement.
Secondarily, the law proposal aims to amend the position of the consumer, artist and other content producers and to also improve development of new services based on network technology. The artists are given the right for dual licensing and withdrawal, which allows the artist to use e.g. an open license. Furthermore, parody and satire rights are given to existing content.
Private copies for own usage are allowed, and third parties are allowed to make those. This allows development of network based storage services, such as "TV-kaista". Works made for education and research use are allowed also in "virtual class rooms".
The most important effect of the law proposal is to refrain from putting citizens and artists against each other and to encourage constructive discussion about further developing the copyright legislation.
Although the proposal (in Finnish) is quite long, it is fairly easy to read (even for such a complex legislation). There exists also a handy diff view (in Finnish), which shows the edits made in the proposal next to the current legislation text.
How can I support the proposal?
If you are a Finnish citizen, you can sign the citizens' initiative online or as a paper version. The online signing can be done in the online service of the Ministry of Justice, which requires strong authentication. Strong authentication can be done, for example, using Finnish online bank credentials.
If you can't or don't want to authenticate online, you can also sign the initiative in our events or by mail on paper.
Read more about the initiative in our press release 23rd January 2013 (in Finnish).
Events
| Date | Location | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 20.4. | Panimoravintola Koulu, Turku | TPB — Taistelu vapaasta Internetistä |
| 21.4. | Helsingfors arbis, Helsinki | Kansalaisaloitteet - todellista kansanvaltaa vai näennäisvaikuttamista |
| 23.4. | Internet | Internetin musta päivä |
| 1.5. | Ullalinnanmäki, Helsinki | Vappu |
| 25.–26.5. | Helsinki | Maailma kylässä |
The campaign is supported by:
