Intellectual Property is the 21st Century's most compelling legal domain

Abstract

This special issue on ‘Intellectual Property’ in the Utrecht Journal of International and European law is well positioned with the information age coming to its peak. It is the era in which digital copying and distribution through the internet has a profound transformative effect on the markets for copyright in music, games and video, where services such as Spotify and iTunes are greatly suppressing DVD sales, and where illegal downloading continues to impact industry daily. It is the era where the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is being presented with, among others, various questions about which acts on the internet (e.g. hyperlinking) are to be considered distribution of copyrighted materials under the scope of the Directive Copyright in the Information Society.1 It so too is having to answer numerous preliminary references of national courts on the harmonisation of trademarks, as well as on the scope of the Audiovisual Media Service Directive 2010/13/EU on Internet platforms.2 At the same time, the European Commission (DG Connect) is currently in the middle of revising both the Directive on Copyright in the Information Society,3 and the Audiovisual Media Service Directive.4 These efforts have proven to be quite a challenge considering the European informational sector operates within the contours of an extremely rapidly changing landscape. On the internet, almost all information is available at arm’s length, and is shared and is reused in a split second, largely ignoring possible copyright claims. Passive television viewing is increasingly being substituted by the individual use of new services. Millions of European citizens watch video on demand through websites like YouTube and Netflix, or catch up with their favourite television series on a computer, tablet device or smartphone. In the meantime, such users can put either their own user-generated content online, or that of others, making copyright protection redundant. Traditional boundaries between consumers, broadcast media and the internet are diminishing, and the lines between the familiar 20th century consumption patterns are blurring. Moreover, with smartphones, tablets, and converged production, as well as an increasing consumption of information content, there will be a further shift from ‘lean-back’ consumption to active participation. This progressive merger of traditional services and the internet is known as ‘convergence’.5 This trend towards digitisation and convergence has long been forecast, but is now indeed becoming a reality.6 Technology already allows users to create, distribute and access all types of content irrespective of the time, place or device. The shift in the use of media by consumers, including the growing use of on-demand services on the internet is significant. Children are increasingly adding on-demand services to their media consumption through the internet. Although technological developments may offer many