This book will provide analysis of the current state of play of and suggest direction for future development of European copyright law and related rights. The acquis communautaire is reviewed in depth, starting with an analysis of the exact competence of the EC in relation to its declared policy ambitions from the past to the present.

Next, the body of european copyright law is described. This is done not in the traditional way, i.e. on a directive by directive basis, but following a scheme of the principal elements that national copyright and related rights law share (e.g. what...

Nobody denies that the traditional territorial approach to copyright and other intellectual property rights has come under pressure. Yet it persists. Faced with the need to determine the applicable law in cross-border cases, lawyers everywhere wrestle with the implications of the territorial nature of copyright and related rights. In this book Mireille van Eechoud clears the way to the formulation of conflict rules that reflect the purpose of copyright law- to protect creators and stimulate the production and use of information- without reverting to old-fashioned notions of territoriality....