Digital Single Market, European Union, Exceptions, Limitations

(Luiss Guido Carli University) and (University College Dublin)/ /Leave a comment

This contribution was posted first on 17 January 2023 on  The Digital Constitutionalist under the title: Safeguarding the Constitutional Role of Media as Fourth Estate of Democracy: Copyright as a Regulatory Framework for Freedom of Expression and Access to Information Online.   In September 2022, the European Commission published its draft European Media Freedom Act…

Case Law, Enforcement, Infringement

(University College Dublin)/ /Leave a comment

In Safarov v. Azerbaijan (Appl. no. 885/12) the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) finds that the defendant State violated Article 1 of Protocol No.1 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR). In its judgment of 1 September 2022, the Court determines that Azerbaijan failed to enforce copyright…

CJEU, Conference, Digital Single Market, European Union, Liability, Limitations

(University College Dublin)/ /Leave a comment

This blog post is a scene-setter for the GFF/COMMUNIA conference “Filtered Futures – Fundamental Rights Constraints of Upload Filters after the CJEU Ruling on Article 17 of the Copyright Directive” taking place in Berlin on September 19, 2022. A live stream of the conference will be available here. In three sessions, contributors will be examining…

Case Law, CJEU, Digital Single Market, European Union, Legislative process, Poland

(Luiss Guido Carli University) and (University College Dublin)/ /Leave a comment

In this contribution, we look at the future of content moderation after the recent decision of the Grand Chamber of the CJEU of 26 April 2022 on the validity of Article 17 CDSM with regard to freedom of expression. This decision is a crucial turn for a number of reasons, the main one being that…

Digital Single Market, European Union, Jurisdiction, Liability

(Luiss Guido Carli University) and (University College Dublin)/ /Leave a comment

Fundamental Rights are the constants in many constitutional orders. They provide stability, continuity in values and encapsulate the normative skeleton of a society. Especially in times of change, they serve as guiding principles for citizens, governments and, if push comes to shove, the judiciary. Amongst the many examples in which fundamental rights have demonstrated their…

CJEU, Digital Single Market, European Union, Legislative process, Poland

(University College Dublin) and (NOVA School of Law Lisbon)/ /Leave a comment

In its long-awaited Opinion on an action brought by Poland to annul certain parts of Article 17 of the Directive on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market (CDSM Directive), Advocate General (AG) Saugmandsgaard Øe demarcates the borders of permitted filtering of users’ uploads. If followed by the Court of Justice of the…

Digital Single Market, Enforcement, European Union, Legislative process, Limitations

(University College Dublin) and (NOVA School of Law Lisbon)/ /Leave a comment

On 4 June 202, the European Commission published its guidance on Article 17 of Directive 790/2019 on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (CDSM Directive). The guidance drew attention mainly because the Commission shifted from a position that rejected ex-ante blocking of content to a permissive take towards ex-ante blocking beyond manifestly illegal content (see…

CJEU, Digital Single Market, Exceptions, Legislative process, Limitations

(Luiss Guido Carli University) and (University College Dublin)/ /Leave a comment

The Directive on Copyright in a Digital Single Market (CDSM Directive, see here and here for an overview) is due to be implemented by the Member States of the European Union by 7 June 2021. The 27 Member States have struggled with transposing the CDSM Directive and have so far produced various transposition drafts, many of…

Case Law, Moldova, Remuneration (equitable), Subject matter (copyrightable)

(University College Dublin)/ /Leave a comment

In AsDAV v Republic of Moldova the Second Section of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) held that the uncompensated use of works by a public authority constitutes a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The ECtHR found that the Moldovan Supreme Court had…

CJEU, Communication (right of), European Union, Exceptions, Germany, Infringement, Limitations

(University College Dublin) and (NOVA School of Law Lisbon)/ /Leave a comment

Summary On 30 April 2020, the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) delivered its ruling in the ‘Metall auf Metall’ saga. It decided that the appeals court had erred in finding that reproduction of a two-second sample infringed the reproduction right of a phonogram producer before the coming into force of Directive 2001/29/EC (InfoSoc Directive)….