This book inquires into the competence of the EU to legislate in the field of copyright, and uses content analysis techniques to demonstrate the existence of a normative gap in copyright lawmaking. To address that gap, it proposes the creation of benchmarks of legislative activity, reasoning that EU secondary legislation, such as directives and regulations, should be based on higher sources of law. It investigates two such possible sources: the activity of the EU Court of Justice in the pre-legislative era and the EU treaties. From these sources, the author establishes concrete benchmarks of legislative activity, which she then tests by applying them to current EU copyright legislation. This provides examples of good and bad practices in copyright lawmaking and also shows how the benchmarks could be implemented in copyright legislation. Finally, the author offers some recommendations in this regard.

The European concern with copyright and related rights -- Object, subject, and duration of protection -- Exclusive rights and limitations -- Rights management information and technological protection measures -- Term extension for sound recordings -- Term calculation for co-written musical works -- Orphan works -- The blessings and curses of harmonization -- The last frontier : territoriality.

The Routledge Handbook of EU Copyright Law provides a definitive survey of copyright harmonization in the European Union, capturing the essential and relevant issues of this relatively recent phenomenon. Over the past few years, two themes have emerged: on the one hand, copyright policy and legislative initiatives have intensified; on the other hand, the large number of references to the Court of Justice of the European Union has substantially shaped the EU copyright framework and, with it, the copyright framework of individual EU Member States. This handbook is a detailed reference source of original contributions which analyze and critically evaluate the state of EU copyright law with a view to detecting the key trends and patterns in the evolution of EU copyright, weighing the benefits and disadvantages of such evolution. It covers a broad range of topics through clusters focused on: the history and approaches to EU copyright harmonization; harmonization in the areas of exclusive rights, exceptions and limitations, and enforcement; copyright policy and legacy of harmonization. With contributions from a selection of highly regarded and leading scholars in this field, the Routledge Handbook on European Copyright Law is an essential resource for students and scholars who are interested in the field of copyright law.

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 second edition is a timely presentation of the state-of-the-art in copyright research. Copyright law is currently at the centre of many debates and the subject of substantive new developments. The new edition of the Research Handbook captures these fast moving developments and goes far beyond a mere update of the chapters. All of the topical chapters are completely new and the authors have been chosen for their expertise and excellence in the areas concerned. Research Handbook on Copyright Law offers global coverage, both in terms of substance and in terms of author expertise, and maps both the present and future of the discipline. It will prove an invaluable research tool for all those involved in copyright research who wish to keep up with the pace at which this area of law is evolving.

First released in early 2019, Copyright and the Court of Justice of the European Union remains the only book exclusively devoted to the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the EU copyright field. Fully updated for the new edition, the book explains the Court's role and action in the field of EU copyright law and provides readers with a sense of the direction of the Court's jurisprudence through an exercise of 'tidying up' and rationalizing the rulings issued so far. In his foreword to the first edition, First Advocate General Maciej Szpunar praised the book's 'profound analysis' of the EU copyright protection and CJEU decisions, which in his view, 'unveiled new information, perhaps never considered, even by members of the Court'. The new edition captures all the significant developments in EU copyright law that have occurred since 2019. Aside from macro-events such as the UK's now completed departure from the EU and the adoption of the Digital Single Market Directive (2019/790), seminal judgments have been issued by the CJEU which touch upon all the main foundational aspects of EU copyright. This book is structured in three parts. The first part is about the role of the CJEU as an EU institution. Following a discussion of the impact of CJEU interpretation of EU copyright provisions (notably their pre-emptive effect on individual EU Member States' freedom), the second part is concerned with CJEU action and vision in respect of four key areas of copyright and related rights: the requirements for protection, construction of exclusive rights, exceptions and limitations, and enforcement. The final part focuses on the legacy of CJEU case law broadly intended, having regard to both individual countries' copyright laws (specifically: the UK) and recent EU copyright reform discourse, notably in the context of the DSM Directive. Timely and engaging, Copyright and the Court of Justice of the European Union provides novel insights into the activity of the CJEU in the copyright field and reflects on the resulting implications for the present and future of EU copyright.

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.