Current Trends and Future of Copyright in Europe

The paper gives an overview of current developments and trends in European copyright law. Firstly, the remarkably comprehensive acquis communautaire in copyright law (with seven specific Directives in the field to date) is briefly outlined. Secondly, the growing body of ECJ case law, referring to the provisions of the Directives’copyright acquis communautaire, is described and discussed in detail. Thirdly, recent policy initiatives of the Commission, such as the planned extension of the protection term for performing artists and producers of sound recordings as well as the recent Green Book on Copyright in the Knowledge Economy are briefly discussed and critically evaluated. The guiding perspective for this critical analysis is the question of whether European Copyright policy and case law do already reflect the paradigm shift in academic research from the old paradigm of strong exclusive individual copyright protection–centred around the interests of the rightholders–to the new paradigm of a stronger consideration of the interests of (creative) users, technology producers, and the general public at large. Ultimately, this analysis allows to identify certain core areas ofcopyrights and the area of exceptions to copyright in their interplay with technological protection measures. On that basis, perspectives for the future are developed, namely discussing the future possibility of a genuine unification of European copyright law by way of a Community copyright regulation.