Towards Less Flexibility

This chapter maps a trend that, with increasing clarity, has been emerging at the level of case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union: on the one hand, the harmonizing force of EU copyright law—especially as interpreted by the Court—is greater than what individual EU Member States’ practices have suggested; on the other hand, and as a result of this, the freedom left to the various national legislatures (and courts) in areas harmonized by EU legislation is more limited than what has been believed to be the case in the past. A discussion and application of the emerging doctrine of EU preemption is provided in relation to selected areas (economic rights and exceptions and limitations).