New developments in the EU concept of copyrighted works

Abstract

In the paper, the author discusses the recent developments of the EU concept of copyrighted works in the EU legislation and CJEU case law. First, the author discusses several CJEU decisions and addresses the issue of the 'expression' of the work and its 'sufficiently precise and objective identifiability'. Afterwards, the author comments on the reasoning of the CJEU's judgment in Brompton Bicycle case and concludes that a work which the senses can simply perceive may still need to be 'sufficiently precise and objectively identifiable'. Therefore, the requirement of 'expression' is primarily directed towards the requirement of materialization of the copyrighted work, while the requirement of 'sufficient precision and objective identifiability' is directed towards the exclusion of those elements that are too subjective or vague so that they undermine the legal certainty of other subjects that are obliged to respect copyright related to the subject matter in question, as well as of the authorities enforcing copyright protection.