The State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI), in common with the EU Project “Support to Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights” in the Republic of Moldova, organized on 9 October the National Seminar “Digitization of Cultural Heritage and Protection of Copyright. Development of Digital Libraries and Protection of Copyright in the European Union and the Republic of Moldova”. The purpose of the event was to strengthen the knowledge in the field of copyright in the context of digitization of cultural heritage and development of digital libraries in the European Union and the Republic of Moldova.

In the opening, AGEPI Director General Lilia Bolocan said that digitization of cultural material allows everyone to gain access to culture and knowledge in the digital age, while promoting the richness and diversity of national and universal cultural heritage. “Digitized cultural material is an important resource for the cultural and creative industries, boosting the economy and creating jobs. It also promotes the digital market by offering new and innovative online products and services. At the same time, the fields of science, culture, arts, publishing, polygraphy, book trade and libraries are directly related to intellectual property, especially to the law on copyright and related rights,” added AGEPI Director General.

Present at the opening of the event, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research Andrei Chistol, welcomed the initiative to organize such a seminar, especially when we have a climb in the development of the digitization process, the computerization of public libraries in the Republic of Moldova and the context in which we need to know those limits that separate the public domain of the private domain, which is governed by copyright and related rights.

The participants then approached a series of topics related to the achievements in the implementation of the Program “Creation, Development and Use of Digital Content in the Republic of Moldova”, digitization of cultural heritage and protection of copyright in the European Union, copyright and the legal framework for libraries, digital access: the impact of copyright on digitization practices in libraries and library activities and copyright exemptions, the protection of copyright in the activities of digital libraries. Finally, a discussion panel was held on the current topics of cultural heritage digitization and copyright protection.

The Technical Assistance Project “Support to Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights” is funded by the European Union and is supposed to be completed in November 2018.