TECUP - Project details (Testbed European Copyright User Platform)

Testbed implementation of the ECUP (European Copyright User Platform) framework

The intention of the TECUP project has been to analyse the feasibility of practical mechanisms for the distribution, archiving and use of electronic products from different types of content owners and involving different types of libraries. During the European Copyright User Platform Concerted Action (projects ECUP and ECUP+) structured specifications of user rights in the electronic age were drafted and discussed with authors, publishers, collecting societies, subscription agencies and their corresponding umbrella associations. The intention was to discuss and reach consensus on a licensing framework for the use of electronic material. At that stage it proved difficult to reach agreement on specific business models without explicit reference to living projects.

TECUP built its work upon the analysis of models actually used by European and other projects. By evaluating their experience against the background of the ECUP framework the project participants, who represent all possible players in the value chain, i.e. authors – publishers – libraries and other providers – end-users, discussed business and usage models, that are regarded best in meeting the needs and interests of users, providers and rights owners.

A follow-up to TECUP is the Frankfurt Group.

Lead/Coordination

• Göttingen State and University Library

Affiliates

• ABC-Datenservice, Frankfurt am Main
• Den Norske Stats Oljeselskap a.s., Stavanger, Norway
• European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations, Den Haag, The Netherlands
• INIST Diffusion / Institute for Scientific and Technical Information, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France
• Kopiosto, Copyright Society, Helsinki, Finland
• Library / Tilburg University, The Netherlands
• London Borough of Croydon. Libraries, Museum and Arts
• Springer Verlag, Heidelberg, London, etc.: international publishers
• University of Helsinki, the National Library of Finland
• Verwertungsgesellschaft Wort, Munich, Germany

SUB Göttingen departments / units involved in the project

• Digitale Bibliothek

Former project staff of the SUB Göttingen

Martina Lange-Rein, Dr. Werner Schwartz