Authors: Andrea Renda, Felice Simonelli, Giuseppe Mazziotti and Giacomo Luchetta

Series: CEPS Special Report No. 121 No of pp: 44

This study explores the existing policy problems and the possible options for reforming the EU copyright framework as provided by EU Directive 29/2001 on Copyright in the Information Society (InfoSoc Directive) and related legislation, with a specific focus on the need to strengthen the Internal Market for creative content. We find two main policy problems: i) the absence of a Digital Single Market for creative works; and ii) the increasing tension between the current system of exceptions and limitations and the legal treatment of emerging uses of copyrighted content in the online environment. Without prejudicing a future impact assessment that might focus on more specific and detailed policy options, our analysis suggests that ‘more Europe’ would be needed in the field of copyright, given the existing sources of productive, allocative and dynamic efficiency associated with the current system. Looking at copyright from an Internal Market perspective would, in this respect, also help to address many of the shortcomings in the current framework, which undermine legal certainty and industrial policy goals.

Andrea Renda is Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Regulatory Affairs Programme at CEPS; Felice Simonelli is Researcher in the Regulatory Affairs Programme at CEPS and Giuseppe Mazziotti is Associate Research Fellow in the Regulatory Affairs Programme at CEPS. Giacomo Luchetta is Economist at Economisti Associati srl, in Bologna.