Vallés, Ramon Casas --- "The Requirement of Originality" [2009] ELECD 164; 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 5

Section Title: The Requirement of Originality

Author(s): Vallés, Ramon Casas

Number of pages: 31

Extract:

4 The subject-matter for film protection in
Europe
Pascal Kamina



Introduction
In this article we examine the issues raised by the definition of the subject-
matter for protection of audiovisual works in the European Union. This ques-
tion is an important one, as copyright and authors' rights systems have very
different traditions when it comes to devising protection for audiovisual
works. Countries of the authors' rights tradition, but also certain copyright
jurisdictions like the USA, protect audiovisual works as original works of
expression, distinct from their recordings or other manifestations thereof.
However, the definition of the subject-matter may vary, raising questions as to
the protection of certain works associated with or close to audiovisual works.
In contrast to this traditional approach, under modern British copyright and in
the countries influenced by British law the main subject-matter for film
protection is the recording of the work, irrespective of any condition of origi-
nality. In certain authors' rights jurisdictions, this recording (the `first fixation
of the film' or `videogram') attracts a protection under a specific neighbour-
ing right, distinct from the copyright in the recorded audiovisual work. As a
result, in these countries both the audiovisual work and its recording are
protected, but under two separate intellectual property rights, a droit d'auteur
on the one hand, and a neighbouring right on the other.
Both aspects were covered in the process of European harmonization of
copyright laws, which consecrated a double protection through a copyright
and a related right, ...