Standards Applied in Relevant Copyright Rulings

Abstract

This chapter discusses the nature and content of eleven key standards that the Court has consistently employed in its copyright case law. They are: high level of protection, autonomous concepts of EU law, effectiveness, proportionality, fair balance of different rights and interests, interpretation in light of international instruments, interpretation in light of wording and context of provisions, interpretation in light of objectives pursued by legislation at issue, interpretation in light of fundamental rights as granted by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, preventive nature of economic rights, and strict interpretation of exceptions and limitations. This chapter also conducts a statistical analysis of the selected rulings, to identify relationships between these standards (considered in pairs), both in general and with particular regard to selected areas (economic rights, exceptions and limitations, and enforcement). The goal is to facilitate the understanding of how different standards interact with each other.