A Copyright Gambit

European memory institutions serve as repositories for a wealth of rare documents that record textual content in the public domain. These documents are usually stored in ΓÇÿdark archivesΓÇÖ to which members of the public have only limited access. Yet digitization has the potential to make this public domain content easily accessible to users around the world. Based on an empirical survey of recent digitization projects undertaken by fourteen memory institutions in five EU member states, this book examines the need to preserve exclusivity with regard to these digitized versions in order to incentivize private-sector investment in the digitization process. It proposes the introduction of a related right to the digitized versions of rare documents, achieved by means of a European Union Regulation that would grant memory institutions a limited-term exclusive right to use and access the digitized versions of the rare documents they have been entrusted with.