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The legal treatment of copyright exceptions under secondary EU law

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Abstract

Before the enactment of the InfoSoc Directive in May 2001, EU law had addressed the issue of copyright exceptions in a purely “vertical” manner, i.e., with regard to new and highly specific subject matters such as computer programmes and databases.249 In 1992, another intervention in this field came with the harmonisation of particular types of rights: the rights of rental and lending and the so-called “neighbouring” rights.250 A horizontal (i.e. general) regulation came into play only with the InfoSoc Directive, which was expected to define the “exceptions and limitations” set out by Member States “more harmoniously”.251

See Articles 5 and 6 of the 1991 Software Directive and Articles 6, 8 and 9 of the 1996 Database Directive.

See Directive 92/100/EEC of 19 November 1992 on rental right and lending right and on certain rights related to copyright in the field of intellectual property, OJ L 346, 27.11.1992, p. 61.

See Recital 31 of the InfoSoc Directive.

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References

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(2008). The legal treatment of copyright exceptions under secondary EU law. In: EU Digital Copyright Law and the End-User. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-75985-0_4

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