Exceptions and Limitations

Exceptions and Limitations to copyright are provisions which allow for works protected by copyright to be used in specific situations without a licence from the copyright owner. There are numerous limitations and exceptions found in copyright legislation including, for example, the fair use exception, exceptions for libraries, archives and educational institutions, and the back-up copy exception.

Digital Single Market, European Union, Exceptions and Limitations, Text and Data Mining (TDM)

(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…

CDSM Directive, CJEU, Digital Single Market, Exceptions and Limitations, Germany, Legislative process

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Part I of this post discussed the changes to copyright contract law and the new text and data mining exemption provisions that formed part of the 2021 copyright law reform. Part 2 explores further exemptions for users of works, new aspects of the right of communication to the public and the press publishers’ right. It…

CJEU, European Union, Exceptions and Limitations

(European University Institute)/ /Leave a comment

Repair and maintenance information is often crucial for the repair of today’s increasingly complex and computerised products and devices. Copyright’s subsistence in repair manuals and information can run contrary to the public interest in access and dissemination of this information, leading to the premature product obsolescence and abandonment. The InfoSoc Directive’s non-mandatory exception for the…

Digital Single Market, European Union, Exceptions and Limitations, Remuneration (equitable), Transfer (of right)

(Institute for Information Law (IViR))/ /2 Comments

The increasing costs of publication under the Gold Open Access model and “Big Deals”   The European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities (ALLEA) has for many years supported the move away from proprietary models of scientific publishing towards Open Access (OA).[1] OA publication of publicly funded scientific research bears the triple promise of…

European Union, Exceptions and Limitations, Legislative process

(CIPIL, University of Cambridge)/ /Leave a comment

In August 2022, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation published a study on EU copyright and related rights and access to and reuse of scientific publications, including open access. The study analyses the relationship between EU copyright law and access to and reuse of scientific publications, including open access, as well as potential…

CDSM Directive, European Union, Exceptions and Limitations

(IÉSEG School of Management, Lille-Paris)/ /Leave a comment

Part 1 of this post outlined augmented reality (AR) technology, its applications in the cultural heritage sector and its potential copyright implications. This part discusses the relevant copyright exceptions and limitations.   Exceptions enabling AR for fostering education and participation in cultural life Currently, EU law does not contain any broad clause enabling exploitations related…

European Union, Exceptions and Limitations

(IÉSEG School of Management, Lille-Paris)/ /Leave a comment

Augmented Reality (AR) is a fast-evolving technology enabling the overlap of digital images with those from the real world. It makes use of several technological developments and in particular computing devices with wireless connectivity that let the user connect to the Internet and other devices in different places. Part 1 of this post outlines the…

Exceptions and Limitations, Germany, Press Publishers ’ Right

(GFF (Society for Civil Rights))/ /Leave a comment

  Knowledge Rights 21 (KR21) is a programme by European library and research associations IFLA, LIBER and SPARC Europe to mobilise the potential of Europe’s knowledge institutions, particularly libraries, to engage with others across the spectrum of the access to knowledge movement to build momentum towards long term copyright reform that benefits library users and…

CDSM Directive, Digital Single Market, European Union, Exceptions and Limitations, Liability

(University of East Anglia)/ /Leave a comment

COMMUNIA and Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte co-hosted the Filtered Futures conference on 19 September 2022 to discuss fundamental rights constraints of upload filters after the CJEU ruling on article 17 of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (CDSMD). This blog post is based on the author’s contribution to the conference’s third session “Beyond the Judgement: The Future…

CDSM Directive, CJEU, Digital Single Market, European Union, Exceptions and Limitations, Liability

(Universidade Católica Portuguesa)/ /Leave a comment

This post is a summary of an editorial forthcoming in IIC – International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law. A pre-print is available for free download on SSRN.   Like most exceptions in the EU copyright acquis, the general parody exception in Article 5(3)(k) of the InfoSoc Directive was originally designed as optional, meaning…