Authors Rights Revisited - Defining Europes Future in a Digital Economy

Georg Jakob

October 2004

Table of Contents

1 Introduction

• 1.1 Is EU copyright effective and consistent? 1.2 Cleaning up terminology 1.3 Avoiding questionable optics

2 The Digital Dilemma

• 2.1 Bits vs. Blocks 2.2 DRM is likely to fail 2.3 Getting it right

3 Proposals

• 3.1 Levies 3.2 Finetunig duration and scope 3.3 Getting out of the Patent trap

4 Authors and Inventors Rights

• 4.1 Artistic and Logic Creations 4.2 Architecture 4.3 Unifying and integrating

Introduction

Is "EU copyright effective and consistent"?

The Commission working paper on which the consulations on the finetunig of copyright legislation are based states that legislation in this field is effective and consistent or, in other words, generlly working as it should. At first glance, there seem to be no severe inequities or dysfunctions indeed. But are these really merits of EU legislation?

A less superficial look might suggest that what really makes the European system regarding the rights of authors and users work has little to do with recent EU directives but rather is the result of more than two centuries of balancing the rights, duties and intersts of the parties involved. This process was rarly based on short sighted prejudices or ad-hod legislation, but on profound reasoning and a broad discussion in which some of Europes brightest minds raised their voices.

Although Gutenbergs invention of the printing press (or rather the perfection of already existing printing technologies, above all movable types, enabling their use on a much larger scale) is widely regarded as being the point of origin of any concept of intellectual property, copyright or authors rights, when in fact it did bring little more but mixture of monopoly and censorship: KIngs and other feudal rulers gave local printing guilds the exclusive right to publish certain works on their territory. In exchange for that, the guilds had to control and censor content. In a time when entire wars were fought on how some paraghraphs of the wholy bible were supposed to be translated, the rights of authors were of no concern at all. The Licensing Act of 1662 in Britain was not introduced as an incentive for creativity, but as a means of surpressing critizism on the Tudor reign. In its essence, copyright

The Statute of Anne of 1709 did change little but assign the c

Cleaning up terminology

It is for these reasons that the usage of a clean terminology is more than just an abstract question. Continental European legislations use Urheberrecht, diritto d'autore or droit d'auteur

Avoiding questionable optics

The Digital Dilemma

Bits vs. Blocks

DRM is likely to fail

Getting it right

Proposals

Levies

Finetunig duration and scope

Getting out of the Patent trap

Authors and Inventors Rights

Artistic and Logic Creations

Architecture

Unifying and integrating