"PREFACE" [2014] ELECD 368; in Stamatoudi, A. Irini; Torremans, Paul (eds), "EU Copyright Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2014) xxiii

Book Title: EU Copyright Law

Editor(s): Stamatoudi, A. Irini; Torremans, Paul

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781781952429

Section Title: PREFACE

Number of pages: 2

Extract:

PREFACE




A few decades ago it would have been impossible to believe that copyright would affect
so many different aspects of everyday life and trade. Nowadays, it is almost common
sense. Copyright has developed into a significant tool for culture, knowledge, creativity,
technology and so on. It suffices for one to note the variety of stakeholders involved in
this area, such as authors, broadcasters, film producers, musicians, software developers,
search engines, enterprises that use music, internet service providers, libraries ­ just to
name a few ­ in order to realize why legislative and akin developments in the area have
accelerated during the last decades and why this trend is continuing. At EU level we
almost had a directive per year over the last years (Term Directive, Orphan Works
Directive and the Collective Rights Management Directive) and at the international
level almost a Treaty every year (ACTA, the Beijing Treaty and the Marrakesh Treaty).
The Court of Justice of the European Union has also been very active. At the same time
lots of controversial issues (such as private levies, copyright infringements on the
Internet, limitations and exceptions, a potential broadcasters' treaty and so on) remain
on the table. This legislative evolution has been unprecedented and has also provoked a
number of reactions. In this light we felt that a commentary of EU copyright law that
would take into consideration the latest developments in the area, as well as the policies
and politics behind them, was needed. Traditional (and less traditional) legal norms had
...