Netherlands: Amsterdam Court Rules Anne Frank’s Diary Can Be Used For Research Purposes

From DutchNews.nl:

The original text of Anne Frank’s famous World War II diaries may be copied for academic research, judges in Amsterdam said on Tuesday.
The Basel-based Anne Frank Fund, which owns the copyright to Anne’s work, had asked the court to ban the Amsterdam-based Anne Frank Foundation from copying the texts and publishing them for academic research.
The court said that in this case at least, scientific freedom is more important than protecting copyright and that Anne’s legacy as a writer is of great historical and social importance.

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From the Official Statement of the Anne Frank House: “Copyright Law Cannot Be Used to Thwart Scientific Research”

The Amsterdam district court has pronounced its ruling on 23 December 2015 in a case brought against the Anne Frank House and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) by the Anne Frank Fonds from Basel, Switzerland.  The Anne Frank House and the Huygens Institute for Netherlands History (Huygens ING), which falls under the KNAW, according to the Anne Frank Fonds have violated the Fonds’ copyright by doing textual and historical research on Anne Frank’s manuscripts. The Anne Frank House and the KNAW are of the opinion that the research falls under the freedom of scientific pursuit. In its ruling, the Amsterdam court found in favour of the Anne Frank House and the KNAW.

Read the Complete Statement
See Also: FAQ on Legal Action Anne Frank Fonds Against the Anne Frank House and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (via Anne Frank House)
See Also: Court Ruling (via Amsterdam District Court)
Original Version (Dutch) ||| English Translation (With Caveats, via Google Translate)
Note: Dank je wel to Jos Damen for his help with this post.

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