The dark side(s) of the EU Directive on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market
- PDF / 674,875 Bytes
- 18 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 118 Downloads / 180 Views
The dark side(s) of the EU Directive on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market Federico Ferri1 Accepted: 23 October 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract The article examines some pivotal aspects of Directive (EU) 2019/790, which is the new legislative act adopted by the European Union to adapt copyright to the evolving digital environment. Indeed, this measure is meant to have considerable implications on the European plane and is supposed to influence, at least in part, also the relations between the EU and third States in the field of copyright. The Directive shall be transposed by mid 2021, but the time is ripe for a first assessment and some reflections. The analysis primarily investigates the relationship between Digital Single Market and EU copyright law and focuses on the most controversial issues of a long-awaited piece of legislation that so far has been widely criticized. In particular, the article explores three new key points: mandatory exceptions and limitations to right holders’ exclusive rights, press publishers’ rights, and platforms’ liability. Keywords Copyright · Digital Single Market · Exceptions and limitations · Press publishers · Platforms · Liability
1 Introduction Just a couple of months before last European elections, one of the top goals of the outgoing Juncker Commission finally saw the light. Directive (EU) 2019/790 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market (DSM Directive), symbolising the “copyright revolution” at the European Union level, was adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU on 17 April 2019. It shall be transposed by the Member States before 7 June 2021. At first sight, this novelty seems to be a fundamental one in view of the fact that the EU reform on copyright received a great deal of media attention. The final stage of the “legislative train” took place after many years of cumbersome procedures involving political institutions, national policy makers and relevant stakeholders. * Federico Ferri [email protected] 1
Department of Legal Studies, University of Bologna, Via Zamboni 27‑29, 40100 Bologna, Italy
13
Vol.:(0123456789)
F. Ferri
The amendments to the old-fashioned legal framework are likely to make a remarkable impact both at national and at supranational level. Copyright law intersects with many other sectors covered by supranational law and this reform is thus expected to produce a domino effect. Furthermore, from the EU perspective the new rules on copyright might as well mark a turning point in the negotiations with third countries whenever aspects concerning intellectual property—especially intellectual property rights—have to be dealt with; that applies not only to agreements specifically concluded to regulate intellectual property, but also to more comprehensive instruments, such as free trade agreements. Therefore, the aim of the article is to analyse the major challenges resulting from Directive (EU) 2019/790. To do that, Sect. 2 introduces the reference framework, while Sect. 3 exp
Data Loading...
