Authorship is the source of all creativity and the source of all creative industries. Authors’ rights are of great cultural and economic importance. They are essential to cultural diversity and to the economic basis for all artistic production.

Quality content is the key. Authors rights are their only defence against exploitation. Authors must promote fair standard contractual and collective licensing schemes in order to control their works and receive equitable remuneration.

People are reluctant to accept that downloading copies is “theft” or “wrong” with a direct economic impact on authors. The involvement of authors is therefore crucial. Educate, don’t criminalise. Create incentives for the public to treat authors fairly.

[ 23 April 2007; ] The 23 April is the UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day. By celebrating this Day throughout the world, UNESCO seeks to promote reading, publishing and the protection of intellectual property through copyright. For this reason the European Writers’ Congress (EWC), the federation of 55 writers’ associations in 29 countries of Europe, has started a campaign […]