Nico van Eijk is Professor of Media and Telecommunications Law. He studied Law at the University of Tilburg and received his doctorate on government interference with broadcasting in 1992 from the University of Amsterdam. He also works as a legal adviser to Rabobank International (Utrecht) and law firm NautaDutilh (Amsterdam). Furthermore, he is the Chairman of the Dutch Federation for Media and Communications Law (Vereniging voor Media- en Communicatierecht, VMC), member of the editorial board of 'Computerrecht' and a member of the supervisory board of Netherlands Public Broadcasting (NPO).

(with J. Poort and P. Rutten) Legal, Economic and Cultural Aspects of File Sharing, Communications & Strategies, 2010-77, p. 35-54.

This contribution seeks to identify the short and long-term economic and cultural effects of file sharing on music, films and games, while taking into account the legal context and policy developments. The short-term implications examined concern direct costs and benefits to society, whereas the long-term impact concerns changes in the industry's business models as well as in cultural diversity and the accessibility of content. It observes that the proliferation of digital distribution networks combined with the availability of digital technology among consumers has broken the entertainment industries' control over the access to their products. Only part of the decline in music sales can be attributed to file sharing. Despite the losses for the music industry, the increased accessibility of culture renders the overall welfare effects of file sharing robustly positive. As a consequence the entertainment industries, particularly the music industry, have to explore new models to sustain their business.

16.04.2010

(with N. Helberger, L. Guibault, E.H. Janssen, C.J. Angelopoulos, J.V.J. van Hoboken, E. Swart, et al.) User-Created-Content: Supporting a participative Information Society, Final Report, Study carried out for the European Commission by IDATE, TNO and IViR, 2008.

28.10.2009

Search Engines, the New bottleneck for Content Access, in: B. Preissl, J. Haucap & P. Curwen (eds.), Telecommunication Markets, Drivers and Impediments, London: Springer, 2009, p. 141-157.

The core function of a search engine is to make content and sources of information easily accessible (although the search results themselves may actually include parts of the underlying information). In an environment with unlimited amounts of information available on open platforms such as the internet, the availability or accessibility of content is no longer a major issue. The real question is how to find the information. Search engines are becoming the most important gateway used to find content: research shows that the average user considers them to be the most important intermediary in their search for content. They also believe that search engines are reliable. The high social impact of search engines is now evident. This contribution discusses the functionality of search engines and their underlying business model - which is changing to include the aggregation of content as well as access to it, hence making search engines a new player on the content market. The biased structure of and manipulation by search engines is also explored. The regulatory environment is assessed - at present, search engines largely fall outside the scope of (tele)communications regulation - and possible remedies are proposed.

24.06.2009

A Converged Regulatory Model for Search Engines?, Magazine of the Society for Computers and Law, 2009-6, p. 1-3.

18.03.2009

(with A. Huygen, N. Helberger et al) Ups and downs. Economic and cultural effects of file sharing on music, film and games (authorised translation), a study by TNO Information and Communication Technology, SEO Economic Research and the Institute for Information Law, commissioned by the Dutch Ministries of Education, Culture and Science, Economic Affairs and Justice, February 2009.

27.02.2009

Search Engines, the new bottleneck for content acccess, Paper presented at the International Telecommunications Society 19th European Regional Conference, 2-5 September 2007, Istanbul, Turkey.

01.11.2007

The modernisation of the European Television without Frontiers Directive: unnecessary regulation and the introduction of internet governance, (draft) paper presented at the International Telecommunications Society 19th European Regional Conference, 2-5 September 2007, Istanbul, Turkey.

Critical analysis of the proposed Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMS).

01.11.2007

(with K. Maniadaki) Institutional Aspects of Internet Governance, in: C. Moeller & A. Amouroux (eds.), Governing the Internet - Freedom and Regulation in the OSCE Region, Vienna: OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, 2007, p. 67-87.

08.08.2007

‘Search engines: Seek and ye shall find? The position of search engines in law’, IRIS plus (Supplement to IRIS - Legal observations of the European Audiovisual Observatory), 2006-2.

15.02.2006

See also the slides.

Published 10.11.2005

Published 14.09.2004

Published 31.08.2004

The study offers an analysis of the use of conditional access systems for other reasons than the protection of remuneration interests. The report also examines the need to provide for additional legal protection by means of a Community initiative, such as a possible extension of the Conditional Access Directive. The report will give a legal and economic analysis of the most important non-remuneration reasons to use conditional access (CA), examine whether services based on conditional access for these reasons are endangered by piracy activities, to what extent existing legislation in the Member States provides for sufficient protection, and what the possible impact of the use of conditional access is on the Internal Market. Furthermore, the study analysis the specific legislation outside the European Union, notably in Australia, Canada, Japan and the US, as well as the relevant international rules at the level of the EC, WIPO and the Council of Europe.

Published 06.08.2001

The article describes the availability of broadband services in the Netherlands. This particularly concerns broadband services for the consumer/end user such as access to Internet.

Published 26.01.2000

‘Cable television networks in Europe’, in: Santiago Muñoz Machado/Rafael de Lorenzo (red.), Derecho Europea del audiovisual, actas del congreso organizado por la asociación europea de derecho del audiovisual, Madrid/Sevilla: 1997, p. 1073-1079.

The European Commission adopted in October 1995 a directive to allow the carriage of all liberalised telecommunications services on cable TV networks as from 1 January 1996. By adopting this directive, the European Commission aims to foster competition and new initiatives in the telecommunications field. This article addresses the enforcement and content of the Commission's directive.

Published 08.04.1998

Updated 16.04.2010