European Copyright Law A Commentary

This book is an updated English language version of a highly regarded commentary published in German by Springer in 2001, covering all of the EU Directives on copyright law and related rights, with article-by-article analysis of the provisions, as well as the relevant background of general EClaw.The analysis of each article examines its antecedents in national laws, the negotiating history, the meaning and purpose of the wording, interpretive rulings by the European Court of Justice, and key issues relating to implentation of the regulations and rulings by the Member States, concentratingin particular on the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Hungary.The revised English edition takes into account the many significant developments which have taken place since the German edition was published, including the Software Directive, the Database Directive, the revised text of the Product Piracy Regulation, the Enforcement Directive and the review of theEC legal framework in the field of Copyright and Related Rights.This book is a must have text for practitioners and academics working in the areas of intellectual property law and policy-making as it offers for the first time in the English language, a clear and comprehensive analysis of European Copyright Law in the style of a commentary. Relevant Europe-wide,this book also has a global market given the importance of the EU in intellectual propert circles around the world.

Michel M Walter is a Honorary Professor at the Vienna University Law School and Visiting Professor at the Danube University Krems, specializing in intellectual property rights. He teaches in a number of universities and master programs. He was a member of the EC group of Copyright experts Brussels and of the Austrian Copyright Arbitration Board. Michel M Walter is a practicing lawyer in Vienna, president of the Austrian Group of ALAI and co-editor of the journal Medien und Recht International (Media and Law International). He is a well known authority in the field of intellectual property rights and author of numerous articles and books in particular on national, European and International copyright and related rights as well as private international law.
Silke Von Lewinski is Adjunct Professor and Head of the Intellectual Property and Competition Law Unit at the Max Planck Institute in Munich. She is a well-known authority in the copyright field having written both leading texts in the area and has been involved in negotiating certain key treaties in the field. She is a member of (interalia) the Executive Committee of ALAI international and of the Board of ALAI's German group.