ECS Conference – Building a EU unitary copyright

The European Copyright Society (ECS) was founded in January 2012 by several renowned European scholars and academics with the aim of creating a platform for critical and independent scholarly thinking on European Copyright law. The ECS keenly advocates the adoption of an EU unitary Copyright under Article 118 of the TFEU (similar to the unitary protection that exists for Trademarks and Design Rights) in the interests of creating a single market for Copyrights and Related Rights, both online and offline. It is envisioned that the establishment of a unified Copyright law framework would enhance legal security and transparency, for copyright owners and users alike, and significantly reduce transaction and enforcement costs relating to online infringements.

The Conference aims at launching the debate and laying the foundations for the construction of an EU unitary Copyright. It seeks to explore several key issues surrounding the construction of a unitary Copyright including the creation of a Copyright ‘title’, means of bridging the common law Copyright tradition and the civil law droit d’auteur traditions, cumulation or substitution as regards national copyrights, enforcement mechanisms including the judiciary system and the formulation of its substantive content (i.e. ownership, rights, exceptions and limitations, contractual protection of authors etc.). The Conference program is available here.

Participants:

Valérie-Laure Benabou (University of Aix Marseille)
Lionel Bently (Cambridge University)
Estelle Derclaye (Nottingham University)
Graeme Dinwoodie (Oxford University)
Thomas Dreier (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)
Séverine Dusollier (SciencesPo Law School)
Christophe Geiger (Strasbourg University – CEIPI)
Jonathan Griffiths (Queen Mary University of London)
Reto Hilty (Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, Munich)
Bernt Hugenholtz (Amsterdam University - IvIR)
Marie-Christine Janssens (Leuven University)
Martin Kreschtmer (Glasgow University - CREATe) Martin Senftleben (VU University Amsterdam)
Alain Strowel (Saint-Louis University and UCLouvain)
Tatiana Synodinou (University of Cyprus)
Michel Vivant (SciencesPo Law School)
Raquel Xalabarder (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona)