Modernising copyright rules in the digital single market

Abstract

By way of introduction, copyright is an exclusive and assignable right held by all creators of any kind of work, for a particular number of years. This dissertation explores the proposed modernisation of copyright in the digital single market, by reviewing the current copyright acquis of the EU and bringing to attention its strengths and weaknesses, as well as the proposed reform, how and why it came about and with particular focus on the implementation of the exceptions and limitations, that it would bring with it. The issue with the state of the present copyright framework, is that it has mostly become obsolete and is made up of too many separate mechanisms, so much so, that it is widely referred to as a ‘patchwork’ of directives, that does not properly regulate copyright in the EU, since each directive was introduced on top of the other, hence, not maintaining a sense of continuity. Rights-holders argue very often, that they feel the degree of legal certainty is quite low, and are many a times not remunerated appropriately for the exploitation of their works. Whilst users argue, that their rights are not clear enough, and that they are very often unjustly prohibited from having access to various online content. Therefore, the proposed reform seeks to provide the EU with a clear, and smooth-functioning framework, that will be flexible enough to adapt as much as possible to any future technological developments, as well as providing an adequate level of legal certainty to rights-holders, and wider access to works for users. The reform also brings with it exceptions and limitations which MS’s can implement accordingly to the particular needs of their country and citizens, hence why the proposed reform comes in the form of a directive and not a regulation, it would not be directly applicable but would leave room for transposition within each MS. Research for this dissertation was carried out solely through qualitative methods, as that was found to be most suitable approach, when taking into consideration the nature of the topic. Research has shown that a reform is definitely needed, especially if the EU is to successfully implement the DSM Strategy. In this light, the EU is faced with three options, regarding the procedure of reforming the copyright legislation. Any option that might be selected, should be put into action with great caution and attention to detail, in order to be effective and achieve the desired aforementioned results of an effective and clear piece of legislation.