øThe highly-regarded authors of this important work explore the constitutional, institutional, and cultural barriers to harmonisation of the copyright laws of the United States and the European Union. They consider these matters in the real world trans

Providing a definition of the concept of harmonisation within the context of the European Union, this timely book debunks the idea that EU harmonisation measures are made behind closed doors in Brussels and imposed, top-down, on the Member States. Offering an in-depth exploration of the concept of harmonisation through the lens of European Insolvency Law, the book will be an insightful read for students and legal scholars interested in EU law and the law-making process.

The economic right of a copyright holder to communicate to the public has become an increasingly important and complex issue in recent years, this is partially due to changes in the way that content is accessed and consumed online. This innovative book analyses the right of communication to the public, taking account of what legal standing an autonomous legal concept can hold, and how this is impacted by wider harmonisation efforts at an EU level.

Information Law Series Volume 45 In a copyright system characterised by broad and long-lasting exclusive rights, exceptions provide a vital counterweight, especially in times of rampant technological change. The EU’s controversial InfoSoc Directive – now two decades old – lists exceptions in which an unauthorised user will not have infringed the rightholder’s copyright. To reform or not to reform this legal framework – that is the question considered in great depth in this book, providing detailed theoretical and normative analysis of the Directive, the national and CJEU case law arising from it, and meticulously thought-out proposals for change. By breaking down the concepts of ‘flexibility’ and ‘legal certainty’ into a set of policy objectives and assessment criteria, the author thoroughly examines such core aspects of the framework as the following: the justifications for exceptions, e.g., safeguarding the fundamental rights of users; the regimes established in legislation and case law for key exceptions; the need to promote technological development; the importance of avoiding re-fragmentation caused by uncoordinated national legislative responses to technological changes; the legal status of digital technologies that rely on unauthorised uses of copyright-protected works; and the pros and cons of importing a fair use standard modelled after that of the United States. In an invaluable concluding chapter, the author puts forward a set of reform proposals, articulating their advantages and responding to potential objections. In doing so, the chapter also identifies, synthesises and critically examines the various proposals that have been advanced in the academic literature. In its decisive contribution to the debate around the InfoSoc Directive and the rules that guide its implementation, interpretation, and application, this book isolates the contentious structural features of the framework and examines them in a critical fashion. The author’s systematised review of scholarly and policymaking proposals for increasing flexibility and legal certainty in EU copyright law will be welcomed by practitioners in intellectual property law and other areas of economic law, as well as by interested policymakers and scholars.

This monograph conducts a comprehensive analysis of the EU right of communication to the public, one of the exclusive rights under EU copyright law, and provides an alternative framework for its interpretation and application. The present state of the law is unsatisfactory; there is uncertainty in the acquis communautaire and courts at the EU and domestic levels have struggled to apply the right. Therefore, the book identifies the problems with the existing right of communication to the public and proposes recommendations for reform. In addition to reforming the scope of the right of communication to the public, the jurisdiction and applicable law in relation to the right are analysed and changes are recommended. Thus, the book covers both the scope and practicalities of a coherent and effective reform of the right. In light of the continuing development and accompanying tribulations with this right at the EU level, this book provides a topical and timely analysis that will be of interest to academics and practitioners working on EU copyright law. Cited in Opinion of Advocate General Henrik Saugmandsgaard Øe, joined Cases C-682/18 and C-683/18, Frank Peterson v Google LLC, YouTube LLC, YouTube Inc., Google Germany GmbH and Elsevier Inc. v Cyando AG, ECLI:EU:C:2020:586, Court of Justice of the European Union, 16 July 2020.

All forms of online communications and interactions between people and companies on the Internet are facilitated by intermediaries – service providers whose decisions and policies have a shaping effect on the Internet, its users and the information shared on it. Today, because such intermediaries employ technologies that go well beyond the mere transmission and storage of information into new realms potentially disrupting existing business models, a rethinking of existing relevant law is called for. The legal analysis and recommendations in this book put the topic of intermediary liability in the perspective of copyright law and offer a vision on how to regulate that liability. In the context of in-depth and up-to-date analyses on EU, US, German and Dutch law, the author discusses such issues and topics as the following: the liability rules in the new Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market; liability for the intermediary’s own copyright infringements (primary liability); the intermediary’s responsibility to stop or prevent the infringements of others (secondary liability); the role that fundamental rights play in copyright law and intermediary liability; the rights and interests of copyright owners, intermediaries and users, and how they are protected; notice-and-takedown by service providers; website blocking by Internet access providers; the publisher’s rights and the use of online articles by platforms; legal status of hyperlinks under copyright law; and search engine use of copyrighted materials. A focus on the strengths and weaknesses of existing EU copyright law concerning Internet intermediaries in terms of how future-proof that law is, includes detailed attention to legislation, regulation and case law. With its deeply informed guidance with respect to the methods of regulation in a domain that is heavily influenced by technological developments, this book will be welcomed by policymakers, legislators, academics, judges and practitioners working in the area of copyright law as applied to the Internet. The detailed attention to the extent to which an intermediary can be held liable for copyright infringements in both the EU and the US will prove highly beneficial for in-house counsellors and advisors working for rights holder organizations and intermediary service providers.

Examining how trade agreements are interpreted both in trade tribunals and in the United Kingdom, this innovative book provides a well-rounded exploration of the numerous UK free trade agreements, including the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, and their legal and policy implications for intellectual property.