Mozilla, the creators of popular internet browser Firefox, have called on the European Union to change its copyright laws, which Mozilla accuses of stifling innovation. The organization has created a petition asking that the EU update its laws “for the 21st century.”

In its petition, Mozilla noted that under current EU laws, it is technically illegal to create a meme, take a photo of the Eiffel Tower light display, or screen a film in a classroom.

“Copyright can be valuable in promoting education, research, and creativity — if it’s not out of date and excessively restrictive,” Mozilla says in its petition. “The EU’s current copyright laws were passed in 2001, before most of us had smartphones. We need to update and harmonise the rules to create room to tinker, create, share, and learn on the internet. Education, parody, panorama, remix, and analysis shouldn’t be unlawful.”

According to Mozilla, EU copyright law is not only harmful to innovation, but it is fundamentally opposed to modern internet culture itself, including “mashups, memes, and GIFs.”

“Copyrighted works are remixed, reimagined, and reused in new and creative ways every day,” Mozilla said. “These elements build on existing ideas in a way that breathes new meaning into old content.”

“Technology advances at a rapid pace, and laws can’t keep up. That’s why our laws must be future-proof: Designed so they remain relevant in 5, 10 or even 15 years. We need to allow new uses of copyrighted works in order to expand growth and innovation.”

“We need to defend the principle of innovation without permission in copyright law”

Finally, Mozilla warned that some organizations are pushing for laws that would be even more restrictive of how online content can be used, such as by monitoring and filtering web content. Mozilla did not name any names, but one such organization includes France’s Syndicat national de l’édition phonographique (SNEP), a music industry professional organization that pushed for a law that would force Google and other search engines to filter out results for torrents.

“We need to defend the principle of innovation without permission in copyright law,” Mozilla said. “Abandoning it by holding platforms liable for everything that happens online would have an immense chilling effect on speech, and would take away one of the best parts of the internet — the ability to innovate and breathe new meaning into old content.”

Mozilla is not the first organization to call out the EU’s copyright laws. Earlier this month, Pirate Party founder Rick Falkvinge made similar statements about the laws holding back innovations, specifically in regards to the 3D printing industry. Falkvinge said at the time that the law is “a direct assault on the 3D printing revolution.”

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