Promises and pitfalls of the European copyright law harmonisation process

This chapter explores the current level of harmonization in copyright and related rights law that has developed within the context of the European Union (EU) and its attempt to establish a legal framework to foster growth in production and distribution of content. It discusses the process of harmonization leading to the current legal framework and stresses its discrepancies in order to ascertain whether the current level of protection creates value and increases the EU's competitiveness. The chapter outlines some of the inconsistencies and flaws in the aqua's communautaire resulting from the harmonization that have been isolated in order to question whether the current legal framework increases the value of the European cultural industry. It analysis of the current process of upwards harmonization in European copyright law can not only be assessed by looking at emerging trends in copyright policy, but it must also take into account the effects of such policy.