The Construction of Economic Rights in the InfoSoc Directive

Abstract

Turning specifically to the discussion of economic rights, this chapter shows how the Court’s application of certain standards discussed in Chapter 2 has resulted in common approaches—and overall broad scope—of the economic rights harmonized by the InfoSoc Directive, these being the rights of reproduction, communication/making available to the public, and distribution. This chapter also contains a discussion of the de facto harmonization of the originality requirement at the EU level and the understanding of ‘work’ under the InfoSoc Directive. With regard to the right of distribution, its exhaustion—especially following the first lawful sale copies in digital format (digital exhaustion)—is also discussed.