CC BY 4.0 – Sebastiaan ter Burg

With the occasion of Public Domain Day 2026, Photoconsortium’s member meemoo has co-organized a full day event on January 15th Public Domain Day in Europe 2026 – with the aim of spreading awareness on the importance of open access materials and the process necessary to change the intellectual property rights status to objects turning public domain: this will highlight not only the legal, financial, technical and institutional hurdles that prevent public access even after copyright protection ends, but also how these barriers can be overcome.

The morning session was split into two tracks: the Belgian track (in person) was be held mainly in Dutch, while the European track as well as the afternoon plenary (in person and online) was held exclusively in English. In the afternoon, participants of the Belgian and European tracks came together for two joint sessions, which will be held in English. Specialised workshops were be offered. EUreka3D-XR project was also present with a dedicated booth.

The event was open to anyone who might engage with public domain collections – from collection managers and service providers to researchers and policymakers: learn more and register for the event.