EU Copyright Harmonization and CJEU Role and Action

Abstract

Following an overview of legislative harmonization, this chapter discusses the composition, role, and functioning of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) before providing some numbers regarding activity in the copyright field. It presents data on: the composition of the Court (Judges-Rapporteur and Advocates General (AGs)), the relationship between the Court and its Judges-Rapporteur, areas in which national courts have made referrals, data on EU Member States from which the relevant referrals have been made, and interventions of individual Member States. Employment of statistical analysis has allowed consideration of a number of questions, including whether the Court tends to agree (it does) with the (non-binding) Opinion of the AG appointed in a certain case more or less often when the interpretation provided of certain copyright provision is expansive or not, and whether the background of the AG (academic or non-academic) has had any relevance from a statistical standpoint (it has not).