Harmonizing Intellectual Property Law for a Trans-Atlantic Knowledge Economy

Reviews / Votes

"In the last decades, harmonization of copyright has been one of the "hot-topics", especially in the context of EU law. However, European law has mainly adopted directives that lack a systematic approach and regulate only some aspects of copyright law. This has lead to a patchy harmonization, which is not able to respond to the rise of new digital communication technologies or to the demands of the globalized economy. At the same time, national non-European courts increasingly make reference in their decisions to the case law of the Court of Justice, while European national courts often refer to US copyright cases. Nevertheless, European work on copyright norms has been mainly concentrated on harmonization at the EU level, with a limited interest in a dialogue with other legal systems. This book edited by Peter Mezei, Anett Pogacsas and Hannibal Travis therefore represents an important effort to fill the international harmonization gap, offering innovative perspectives for both legal scholars and legal practitioners.

- Giovanni Maria Riccio, Professor of Law, University of Salerno



"For well over a century, the international community has shared a goal of harmonizing intellectual property laws among nations. Unfortunately, these nations have been aiming at a moving target. Due to changes in underlying technologies-the internet, streaming of content, and social media, to name just a few obvious examples-the considerations relevant to harmonization keep changing. Different nations have taken different approaches to these new considerations. The result has been not only a less-than-complete harmonization, but a lack in uniformity in how harmonization takes place. Stated differently, even when nations have the same end result, they may reach that result by following quite different paths.

This book on harmonization is an invaluable contribution to the discussion. Two features are especially important. First, the book pays special attention to the issues that arise in connection with technical advances. Numerous passages in the book deal with these new technologies, and explore how nations have tried to fit their intellectual property rules to the problems inherent in those technologies. Second, the book takes a comparative approach. Most discussions of harmonization concentrate on the EU, US, or other national or regional system. By contrast, this book compares how different regimes have dealt with the same basic problems. This comparative approach is extremely useful, as nations can learn from the successes and failures of other nations. The analysis should appeal to a wide audience, including policymakers, academics, and attorneys (and other representatives) practicing in the intellectual property field."

- John Cross, Grosscurth Professor of Intellectual Property Law, University of Louisville



"For the past few decades, harmonization has been a key driving force behind international and regional intellectual property norm-setting. This comprehensive and well-curated volume brings together scholars across the Atlantic to examine the prospects and limits of harmonization. It covers a wide array of timely topics, including artificial intelligence, streaming platforms, digital exhaustion, the press publishers' right and design protection. Whether you are a fan, critic or neutral observer of the harmonization process, you will appreciate the insights provided by this book."

- Peter K. Yu, Regents Professor of Law and Communication, Texas A&M University