Geiger, Christophe --- "Copyright’s Fundamental Rights Dimension at EU Level" [2009] ELECD 161; in Derclaye, Estelle (ed), "Research Handbook on the Future of EU Copyright" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009)

Book Title: Research Handbook on the Future of EU Copyright

Editor(s): Derclaye, Estelle

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847203922

Section: Chapter 2

Section Title: Copyright’s Fundamental Rights Dimension at EU Level

Author(s): Geiger, Christophe

Number of pages: 22

Extract:

1 Copyright without frontiers: the problem of
territoriality in European copyright law*
P. Bernt Hugenholtz



Introduction
Since the 1980s the European Community has carried out an ambitious
programme of harmonisation of the law on copyright and related (neighbour-
ing) rights, with the primary aim of fostering the Internal Market by removing
disparities between the laws of the Member States. This programme has
resulted in no fewer than seven directives on copyright and related rights that
were adopted in a 10-year interval between 1991 and 2001. While the seven
directives have indeed created a measure of uniformity between the laws of
the Member States, they have largely ignored the single most important obsta-
cle to the creation of an Internal Market in content-based services: the territo-
rial nature of copyright. Despite extensive harmonisation, copyright law in the
Member States is still largely linked to the geographic boundaries of sovereign
states. Consequently, copyright markets in the European Union remain vulner-
able to compartmentalisation along national borders. Even in 2008 content
providers aiming at European consumers need to clear rights covering some
27 Member States. This clearly puts them at a competitive disadvantage vis-
à-vis their main competitors outside the Union, such as the United States.
This chapter examines and criticises the territorial nature of copyright in the
light of the emerging European market for copyright-based services. It
commences with an overall description of the process of harmonisation that
has brought Europe its seven directives. It then examines the rule ...