BRUSSELS– March 26, 2019 – As a global organisation, BSA has long supported a mandatory Text and Data Mining exception (only in cases where the party doing so already has lawful access to the underlying work) in future-proof rules for the EU. In approving the Copyright reform, the European Parliament today has enabled the EU to create legal certainty and a supportive environment for technological innovation and growth.

Text and data mining (TDM) is a form of software-enabled analytics that enables unlocking correlations and identifying useful knowledge from information that rests undiscovered in data sets large and small, in ways humans can process and harness for a myriad of valuable purposes. TDM is one of the revolutionary tools used by Artificial Intelligence, a fundamental process in machine-learning and data analytics.

Following the European Parliament’s plenary vote on copyright rules, BSA | The Software Alliance’s Director General, Policy – EMEA, Thomas Boué, stated the following:

“Today’s positive European Parliament Plenary vote on the Copyright Directive sends a clear signal that the EU has made the decision to take a leading role in Artificial Intelligence. Text and data mining is a fundamental building block for AI. By enacting a mandatory text and data mining exception, the EU is ensuring legal certainty and is creating a supportive environment for technological innovation and growth. We are glad that the EU recognises and supports the potential of AI.”