Abstract
This chapter discusses how the process of European Union (EU) harmonisation of copyright and related rights has affected the way in which European legal systems define the status of an author. Despite the fact that EU harmonisation has focused mainly on the author’s economic rights in the framework of internal market, its influence on national laws is much broader and triggers a re-definition of the role of the author in the copyright system as a whole. In particular, EU law now recognises the exclusive standing of the natural person of the author in determining the subsistence and exercise of economic rights. This is mainly due to the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the EU, which has oriented the EU integration towards a stronger recognition of the status of an author.
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Notes
- 1.
The Convention was signed by Belgium, France, Germany, Haiti, Italy, Liberia, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, and the United Kingdom in 1886, and it was lastly amended in 1979. In 1994, the Convention was incorporated in the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) and then made applicable to the member nations of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
- 2.
The acquisition theory originates from John Locke’s Treaties of Government (1690), while classical legal utilitarianism has developed under the influence of authors like Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806–1873).
- 3.
The ‘Statute of Anne’, the first British copyright act, was termed An Act for the Encouragement of Learning (8 Anne c. 19, 1710).
- 4.
Ladbroke v William Hill; House of Lords (1964), 1 All ER 465.
- 5.
The ‘personality theory’ is traditionally traced back to the legal theory of Hegel, while the ‘communication theory’ is based on Kant’s philosophy of right.
- 6.
So-called ‘reprography exception’: Directive 2001/29/EC, art. 5(2)(a).
- 7.
So-called ‘private copying exception’: ibid., art. 5(2)(b).
- 8.
Directive 2001/29/EC, Rec. 4 and 9 (as frequently referred to in the CJEU jurisprudence, see Favale et al. 2016).
- 9.
Directive 2006/116/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on the term of protection of copyright and certain related rights (codified version). Official Journal L 372, 27/12/2006, art. 2(1).
- 10.
Ibid., art. 6.
- 11.
Directive 2009/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the legal protection of computer programs (codified version). Official Journal L 111, 5/5/2009, art. 1(1): ‘Member States shall protect computer programs, by copyright, as literary works […]’.
- 12.
Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases. Official Journal L 77, 27/3/1996.
- 13.
Directive 2001/29/EC, art. 5(2)(a) (‘reprography exception’) and 5(2)(b) (‘private copying exception’).
- 14.
Directive 2006/116/EC, art. 2(1).
- 15.
See Directive 2009/24/EC on the legal protection of computer programs (codified version), art. 2(1), and Directive 96/9/EC on the legal protection of databases, art. 4(1): ‘The author of a [computer programme or database] shall be the natural person or group of natural persons who has created [it] or, where legislation of the Member States so permits, the legal person designated as the right holder by the legislation’.
- 16.
Case C-406/10 SAS Institute v World Programming (2012), § 39–40.
- 17.
Directive 96/9/EC, art. 3.
- 18.
Case C-312/10 Infopaq v DDF [2009] (“Infopaq I”).
- 19.
Under art. 2 of the Information Society Directive, authors have the right to authorise or prohibit reproduction of their works “in whole or in part” (Directive 2001/29/EC, art. 2).
- 20.
Directive 96/9/EC (databases), Directive 2006/116/EC (term of protection) and Directive 2009/24/EC (computer programs).
- 21.
Case C-312/10, § 50.
- 22.
Case C-393/09 Bezpečnostní softwarová asociace – Svaz softwarové ochrany v Ministerstvo kultury (2010), § 44–46.
- 23.
Case C-145/10 Painer v Standard Verlags GmbH [2011], § 92.
- 24.
Sawkins v. Hyperion Records Ltd [2005] RPC 32 (CA).
- 25.
Creation Records v. News Group [1997] EMLR 444.
- 26.
Norowzian v. Arks Ltd [1999] All ER (D) 1214.
- 27.
Lucasfilm v. Ainsworth [2011] 3 WLR 487.
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Borghi, M. (2019). Author. In: Bartolini, A., Cippitani, R., Colcelli, V. (eds) Dictionary of Statuses within EU Law. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00554-2_7
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