Making sure copyright works – safeguarding authors and users rights

Abstract

A proposal for the IP law would be to make sure that copyright works efficiently, namely to use legislation proactively to make sure that Intellectual Property Rights ('IPR') produce the societal benefits they were meant to. The anticipated benefits of copyright law often evaporate as soon as the authors or users of protected material are faced with the realities of the market. On this regard, in my prospect reform of Intellectual Property law it is of topmost priority that the following paradox would be fixed. A paradox is hence created since meetings between authors, producers and users are generally regulated by contracts. It is thus frequent that, under these contracts, producers rely on their superior market power to impose unfair contract terms on authors and, in this way, they are able extract more than their fair share of copyright's prize. I then suggest two legislative steps both at the international, EU and national levels to further the goal of making copyright work. The first is the protection of individual, creative authors against unfair contract terms. And the second is focuses on users, whereby the task is to make sure that their "users' rights" are not circumvented by Technological Protection Mechanisms (TPM). FInally, both the EU and states in general should use the opportunity presented by the DSM-Directive to generally reconsider the relationship between contracts and IPR. The ambition of making sure that "copyright works" should not be limited to authors' interests. Users' interest should be acknowledged too. This has become unavoidable after the recast in the DSM-Directive of (some of) the limitations and exceptions as unwaiveable – "real" – users' rights.