"The details of copyright law used to be important for only a few in the creative industries," stated the group's website. "Now, with the growth of the Internet, we are all authors, publishers, and sharers of copyrighted works."
According to the group, Copyright Watch is an international group of copyright experts from within the Access to Knowledge community, including Corporacion Innovarte, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Electronic Information for Libraries (eIFL.net), the International Federation of Library Associations, Professor Michael Geist, the Third World Network, and the Bangalore Centre for Internet and Society.
"Balanced and well-calibrated copyright laws are extremely important in our global information society," EFF's International Policy Director, Gwen Hinze, said. "The smallest shift in the legal balance between the rights of copyright owners and users of copyrighted knowledge can destroy or enable business models, criminalize or liberate everyday behavior, and transform or eradicate new technology."
The group's goal is to build a comprehensive database of national copyright laws and to aid and advance comparative research.
"We wanted to raise awareness of the importance of balanced copyright law in the information society, and draw attention to points of commonality and of difference in countries' laws and legal traditions," Hinze added. "We also wanted to create an information sharing resource, where copyright watchers could post information about proposed amendments to their own copyright laws, and understand the changes in others."
The group also hopes that Copyright Watch will highlight the importance of copyright issues "to all aspects of cultural life and human freedom," as well as the need to stay vigilant in the face of ongoing legal changes.
"A law that is passed in one nation can quickly be taken up by others, through bilateral trade agreements, regional policy initiatives or international treaties," Hinze concluded. "We all need to keep watch."