On 9 July, a resolution in a plenary session of the European Parliament recognized the notion of ‘public domain’ for the first time in Europe, on the initiative of MEP Julia Reda. This important step elevates the public domain to the same regulatory space as exclusive rights, considering the rights of users and their default entitlement in the absence of copyright. As part of the LSE Law and Communications Research Network Seminar series, Melanie Dulong de Rosnay and Orla Lynskey compared default entitlements to information in the areas of copyright and data protection law.
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mediapolicyproject/2015/08/03/defining-a-public-domain-for-copyright-and-data-legislation-at-the-european-parliament/