This page reports on the implementation of the Information Society Directive (Directive 2001/29/EC) and contains case law, studies, an overview of the European legislative history, an overview of the national European implementation laws and a brief overview of relevant literature and case law regarding the Directive.

Case law

• HvJ EG 29 januari 2008, zaak C-275/06 (Productores de Música de España (Promusicae) / Telefónica de España SAU);

• ECJ 7 December 2006, case C-306/05 (Sociedad General de Autores y Editores de España (SGAE) / Rafael Hoteles).

• HvJ EG 12 september 2006, zaak C-479/04 (Laserdisken ApS / Kulturministeriet).

Study

L. Guibault, G. Westkamp, T. Rieber-Mohn, P.B. Hugenholtz, (et al.) Study on the Implementation and Effect in Member States' Laws of Directive 2001/29/EC on the Harmonisation of Certain Aspects of Copyright and Related Rights in the Information Society, report to the European Commission, DG Internal Market, February 2007.
Part II: Country Reports on the Implementation of Directive 2001/29/EC in the Member States, G. Westkamp, Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute, February 2007.
See also the executive summary.

In February 2007 IViR completed a study, commissioned by the European Commission, examining the application of Directive 2001/29/EC ("Info-Soc Directive") in light of the development of the digital market. Its purpose was to consider how Member States have implemented the Directive into national law and to assist the Commission in evaluating whether the Directive, as currently formulated, remains the appropriate response to the continuing challenges faced by the stakeholders concerned, such as rights holders, commercial users, consumers, educational and scientific users.

European legislative history

• Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society was published on 22 June 2001 (OJ 2001 L 167/10).
• At the beginning of 2001 the European Parliament looked at the proposal for the second time. From the two hundred amendments submitted only nine were adopted in the second reading. The Commission adopted these amendments in the Common Position at the end of March 2001. On 9 April 2001 the Council of Ministers adopted the final directive.
• On 28 September 2000 the Council adopted a Common Position in which some of the changes from the amended proposal of the Commission have been included.
• The European Commission published an amended proposal in May 1999.
• In February 1999 the European Parliament agreed on the proposal in first reading and issued a resolution that contained 58 amendments.
• The European Commission published the first Directive proposal in December 1997. See also the Explanatory Memorandum.
• On 19 July 1995 the European Commission published a Green Paper (COM (95) 382 final) about copyright and related rights in the information society. Partly due to the response to the questionnaire in the Green Paper, the European Commission published in November 1996 a follow-up to the Green Paper (COM (96) 586 final).
• The European Commission commissioned the Institute for Information Law to write a preliminary study about the copyright problems of the information superhighway. P.B. Hugenholtz wrote the report Intellectual Property Rights on the Information Superhighway, which was published in revised form in P.B. Hugenholtz (ed.), The Future of Copyright in a digital environment, Information Law Series, no. 4, The Hague: Kluwer Law International 1996, p. 81-102.
• The so-called Bangemann Report of May 1994 recommended the creation of a common European framework for the protection of intellectual property.

National implementation in Europe

By now the Directive has been implemented in all European countries. An overview of the countries and the corresponding legislation is given below.

Country	Date	Legislation
Austria	01/07/2003	Bundesgesetz über das Urheberrecht an Werken der Literatur und der Kunst und über verwandte Schutzrechte i.d.F. der UrhG-Novelle 2003
Belgium	23/05/2003	Loi du 22 mai 2005 transposant en droit belge la Directive européenne 2001/29/CE du 22 mai 2001 sur l'harmonisation de certains aspects du droit d'auteur et des droits voisins dans la société de l'information, Moniteur Belge, 27/05/2005, p. 24997.
Bulgaria	01/01/2003	Law on copyright and neighbouring rights, State Gasette no. 56/1993
Cyprus	01/05/2004	Copyright and Related Rights (Amendment) Law of 2004 (Law n° 128(I)/2004, Official Gazette of the Republic of Cyprus, n° 3850, 30.04.2004)
Czech Republic	01/12/2000 (partially)	Act No. 121/2000 on Copyright Law and Rights Related to Copyright and on the Amendment of Certain Legislative Acts ("Copyright Act")
Denmark	22/12/2002	Act no 1051 of 17 December 2002
Estonia	29/10/2004	Act of 22 September 2004 (RT I 1999, 54, 580) which came in force 29 October 2004, to amend the Copyright Act of 11 November 1992 (RT2 1992, 49, 615, consolidated text RT I 2000, 16, 109)
Finland	14/10/2005	Law 14.10.2005/821, amending the Copyright Act (8.7.1961/404); Law 14.10.2005/822 amending chapter 49 in the Criminal Code; decree 1036/2005, amending the Copyright Decree
France	04/08/2006	LOI n° 2006-961 du 1er août 2006 relative au droit d'auteur et aux droits voisins dans la société de l'information (1), J.O. no. 178, du 3 août 2006 page 11529
Germany	13/09/2003	Act amending the Law on Copyright and Related Rights 1965 of 10 September 2003
Greece	10/10/2002	Article 81 of Law 3057/2002 (Amendment and Completion of Law 2725/1999, regulation of matters pertaining to the Ministry of Culture and other provisions) (Official Gazette A' 239/10.10.2002)
Hungary	01/05/2004	Act CII amending the Copyright Act 1999 (Act No. LXXXVI of 1999, Official Gazette (Magyar Közlöny) No. 61
Ireland	16/01/2004	Statutory instrument No. 16/2004 European Communities (Copyright and Related Rights) Regulations 2004
Italy	09/04/2003	Legislative decree No. 68 of 9 April 2003 (Decreto Legislativo 9 aprile 2003, n. 68, "Attuiazione della direttiva 2001/29/CE sull'armonizzazione di taluni aspetti del diritto d'autore e dei diritti connessi nella società dell'informazione", pubblicato nella Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 87 del 14 aprile 2003) amending the Basic Copyright Law Act (Act No. 633 of 22 April 1941 as amended)
Latvia	22/04/2004	Amendments to the Copyright Law Act of 22 March 2003 and of 22 April 2004
Lithuania	01/01/2004	Law amending the law on copyright and related rights, No. IX-1355, 5 March 2003
Luxembourg	18/04/2004	Act amending the Law on Author's Rights, Related Rights and Databases (Loi du 18 Avril 2004 (Memorial A, no. 61 du 29 avril 2004, pp. 942-948, Loi du 18 avril 2004)
Malta	02/09/2003	Inserted into the Copyright Act under Part XVIII of Act IX of 2003, An Act entitled the Various Laws (Amendment) Act)' Government Gazette of Malta, No. 17467
Netherlands	01/09/2004	Act of 6 July 2004 amending the Copyright Act (Wet van 23 september 1912, houdende nieuwe regeling van het Auteursrecht), Stb. 2004, 336
Norway	01/07/2005	2005:97 “Lov om endringer i åndsverkloven m.m.” (“Act on amendments in the Copyright Act etc”), Lovtidend (the offical legal gazette) June 17, 2005, p. 481 ff
Poland	01/04/2004	Act of 1 April 2004 on the alteration of the Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights (2004 Act); Act of 28 October 2002 on the alteration of the Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights (2002 Act) = ustawa z dnia 1 kwietnia 2004 r. o zmianie ustawy o prawie auto r skim i prawach pokrewnych (Dziennik Ustaw Nr 91, Poz. 869), ustawa z dnia 28 października 2002 r. o zmianie ustawy o prawie autorskim i prawach pokrewnych (Dziennik Ustaw Nr 197, Poz. 1662)
Portugal	24/08/2004	Law 50/2004 of 24 August 2004
Romania		Law on copyright and neighboring rights, Law No. 8/March 14, 1996, Monitorul Oficial (Official Gazette of Romania), Part I, No. 60 / March 26, 1996.
Slovakia	01/01/2004	Act No. 618/2003 of 4 December 2003
Slovenia	24/04/2004	Copyright and related rights act of 30 March 1995, as last amended on 15 December 2006 (as in force from 13 January 2007), Official Gazette RS Nos. 21/95, 9/01, 30/01, 43/01, 17/06, 44/06, 139/06 and 16/07. (unofficial translation)
Spain	07/07/2006	Ley 23/2006 de 7 julio, B.O.E. num. 162, 8 julio 2006, 25561
Sweden	01/07/2005	Government Bill no 2004/2005:110, amending Act 1960:729 on Copyright in Literary and Artistic Works of 30 D e cember 1960
United Kingdom	31/10/2003	Statutory Instrument SI 2003/2498 (“The Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003). Minor amendments were made under the Performances (Moral Rights etc.) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/18)

Selected relevant literature

• A. Lucas, La loi française du 1er août 2006 transposant la directive sur la société de l'information, Auteurs & Media, 2007-1/2, p. 54-68;

• F. Brison & B. Michaux, La nouvelle loi du 22 mai 2005 adapte le droit d'auteur au numérique, Auteurs & Media, 2005-3, p. 212-222;
• U. Gasser & M. Girsberger, Transposing the Copyright Directive: Legal Protection of Technological Measures in EU-Member States : A Genie Stuck in the Bottle?, Berkman Publication Series, no. 2004-10, November 2004.
• L. Beard, V. Budd, A. Haller et al., Harmonization of copyright law in the European Community: A comparative overview of the implementation of the Copyright Directive (2001/29/EC) in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, Computer Law Review International, 2004-2, p. 33-41;
• G. Westkamp, Towards access control in UK copyright law? Some remarks on the proposed implementation of the EU copyright directive, Computer Law Review International, 2003-1, p. 11-16;
• L. Guibault, Le tir manqué de la directive européenne sur le droit d'auteur dans la societé de l'information, Les Cahiers de Propriété Intellectuelle, 2003-2, p. 537-573.
• J.P. Triaille, La directive sur le droit d'auteur du 22 mai 2001 et l'acquis communautaire, Auteurs & Media, 2002-1, p. 8-13;
• J. Reinbothe, Die EG-Richtlinie zum Urheberrecht in der Informationsgesellschaft, GRUR International, 2001-8/9, p. 733-745;
• P.B. Hugenholtz, Why the Copyright Directive is unimportant, and possibly invalid, European Intellectual Propery Review (EIPR), 2000-11, p. 499-505;

The journal Revue Internationale du Droit d'Auteur (RIDA) published a series of articles about the implementation of the Directive in different European countries.

• J. Liedes, The 2002-2007 revision of the Finnish copyright legislation: Implementation of the copyright directive of 2001 ("information society directive"), Revue Internationale du Droit d'Auteur (RIDA), 2006-210, p. 53-109;
• T. Desurmont, La transposition en France de la directive 2001/29/CE sur l'harmonisation de certains aspects du droit d'auteur et des droits voisins dans la société de l'information, Revue Internationale du Droit d'Auteur (RIDA), 2006-210, p. 111-183;
• A. Delgado, La incorporacion de la directiva 2001/29 al derecho espanol de propiedad intelectual (derecho de autor y derechos afines al de autor), Revue Internationale du Droit d'Auteur (RIDA), 2006-210, p. 5-51;
• G.W.G. Karnell, The Swedish implementation of the European Infosoc-directive, Revue Internationale du Droit d'Auteur (RIDA), 2005-206, p. 161-233;
• L.F. Rebello, Transposition de la directive no. 2001/29/EC dans le droit portugais, Revue Internationale du Droit d'Auteur (RIDA), 2005-206, p. 149-159;
• P.B. Hugenholtz, The Implementation of Directive 2001/29/EC in The Netherlands, Revue Internationale du Droit d'Auteur (RIDA), 2005-206, p. 117-147;
• R. Clark, The information society directive in Irish law, Revue Internationale du Droit d'Auteur (RIDA), 2005-206, p. 69-115;
• J. Corbet, La transposition en droit belge de la directive droit d'auteur dans la société de l'information, Revue Internationale du Droit d'Auteur (RIDA), 2005-206, p. 5-67;
• S. von Lewinski, The implementation of the information society directive into German law, Revue Internationale du Droit d'Auteur (RIDA), 2004-202, p. 11-41;
• M.M. Walter, The implementation of the infosoc-directive in Austria: The Copyright Amendment 2003, Revue Internationale du Droit d'Auteur (RIDA), 2004-202, p. 43-79;
• P. Schonning, Implementation of the directive on copyright in the information society: Denmark, Revue Internationale du Droit d'Auteur (RIDA), 2004-202, p. 81-105;
• G. Koumantos, La transposition de la directive 01/29 (société d'information), Revue Internationale du Droit d'Auteur (RIDA), 2004-202, p. 107-125;
• M. Fabiani, La transposition en Italie de la directive 2001/29/CE, Revue Internationale du Droit d'Auteur (RIDA), 2004-202, p. 127-137;
• J. Neuen, La transposition en droit Luxembourgeois de la directive Européenne du 22 mai 2001 sur l'harmonisation de certains aspects du droit d'auteur et des droits voisins dans la société de l'information, Revue Internationale du Droit d'Auteur (RIDA), 2004-202, p. 139-183
• C. Seville, The United Kingdom's implementation of the copyright directive, Revue Internationale du Droit d'Auteur (RIDA), 2004-202, p. 185-221;

Bijgewerkt 09.12.2008