Copyright Directive, European

The 2001 EU directive harmonising copyright law across the member states of the European Union and implementing the WIPO Copyright Treaty.  The Copyright Directive contains a large number of provisions designed to make it Internet-friendly, including distinguishing “reproduction rights” under Article 2 from the right of “communication to the public” or “making available to the public” under Article 3, as well as the the temporary copying exception.  The directive does allow a considerable amount of flexibility to member states, particularly with respect to exceptions to the reproduction right for various purposes which means that EU law is not wholly harmonised by the directive.

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