Copyright

The European Union has been repeatedly having discussions for the past twelve years on how to cherish, develop and protect creation in the digital environment.

So far, discussions have focussed on enforcement of pre-existing legal norms and the extent to which internet providers should police and even punish their customers.

Despite all of these efforts, it appears that copyright is still not respected in the European Union. As Commissioner Kroes said, “Citizens increasingly hear the word copyright and hate what is behind it.” This is a situation where everyone loses and which demands a strong policy response.

This booklet looks at the foundations of the profound disconnect that has developed between citizens and the law.

It is also available in Russian thanks to Legal Transformation Center (Lawtrend), and in German thanks to EuroMinds Linguistics.