KDEC 2295 - Copyright Law

Copyright is one of the most important intellectual property rights and governs major and diverse economic sectors, from culture and arts to software, from entertainment to the news production, to name only the most evident. But it also a contested field, raising questions of access to culture, education and information, or issues of proper remuneration of creators against the mass provision or use of works by digital and AI platforms and operators.

This course aims at providing the students with the necessary knowledge of copyright law and an understanding of its stakeholders, challenges and controversies, to enable them to address its current and future issues with an expert and critical approach.

While the EU copyright law will be primarily addressed, French law, as well as some comparative approach, will be explained when relevant. The following questions will be addressed: the subject-matter protected by copyright, the notion of authorship, the scope of protection and how it has been interpreted and has expanded in the last years, the limitations and exceptions of copyright, including the recourse to fundamental rights. The exploitation of works on music streaming platforms will be used as a case study to understand the questions of rights exploitations, of liability of online platforms, of contracts and remuneration of authors and performers. The question of AI and what it does to copyright will be an important topic too.

No prior knowledge is required.

Readings and assignments for each session of the course will be provided to the students.

Lectures based on preliminary readings (case law and some reference readings) and exercises. For some sessions, the students will be asked to work on a case study and present their analysis or defend a specific stakeholder’s positions.

• 40% of the final mark: two short written papers (20% for each) will be asked during the Semester.
• 10% of the final mark: participation in class and preparation of the readings/exercise.
• 50% of the final mark: oral examination with 24h preparation.

Each student will be given a legal problem to analyse, develop a strategy for and resolve (for example, a dispute referred to a solicitor, legal arguments to be developed in the context of legal proceedings, a legal analysis of the development of a product or service, a lobbying position to be formulated, etc.).  They will have 24 hours to prepare and develop your arguments, then orally present their reasoning to the professor .

Specific details about the organisation and methodology of each exercise will be given in class later on.