Europe’s copyright law decade: Recent case law of the European Court of Justice and policy perspectives

Publishers Abstract:
The article provides an overview of the most important developments in the field of EU copyright law in the period 2009-2013. It points to the active role the ECJ has taken in interpreting the EU copyright directives, in particular the Information Society Directive.

The article discusses the ECJ's case law covering the condition for copyright protection, the exclusive economic exploitation rights, including a full treatment of the UsedSoft case, exceptions to copyright and in particular the case law on fair compensation for private copying. It argues that the ECJ's case law is consistently rooted in the objectives of primary law, notwithstanding certain weaknesses in the interpretation of substantive copyright law in detail. A brief outline of the most important legislative activities since 2009 puts the Court's case law in the overall context of the development of EU copyright in the last 5 years.