The ‘Two Suns’ of EU Digital Copyright Law: Reconciling Rightholders’ and Users’ Interests via Interlegality

Abstract

Copyright law is an emblematic example of the restless relationship between law and technology. The discipline fundamentally aims at striking a fair balance between the interests of copyright owners and users and, as the ongoing process of EU copyright reform demonstrates, digital technologies play a key role in pursuing this objective. The EU transition towards a digital-based copyright paradigm shows how achieving a balanced and context-sensitive legal framework requires taking into account elements from coexisting legal systems as well as from the technological normative ecosystem. Providing concrete examples of the intertwined nature of copyright law and digital technologies when it comes to protecting clashing interests, the article illustrates the ‘interlegal’ pattern emerging from the CJEU, which unveils a composite understanding of law and offers meaningful insights into the future of the EU digital copyright legal framework.

Keywords: EU copyright law, CJEU, Digital Single Market, fair balance, interlegality

JEL Classification: K10, K19, K40, D23, O3