Cambridge Intellectual Property and Information Law: Series Number 6: Copyright Exceptions: The Digital Impact

This book was first published in 2005. Copyright 'exceptions' or 'users' rights' have become a highly controversial aspect of copyright law. Most recently, Member States of the European Union have been forced to amend their systems of exceptions so as to comply with the Information Society Directive. Taking the newly amended UK legislation as a case study, this book examines why copyright exceptions are necessary and the forces that have shaped the present legislative regime in the UK. It seeks to further our understanding of the exceptions by combining detailed doctrinal analysis with insights gained from a range of other sources. The principal argument of the book is that the UK's current system of 'permitted acts' is much too restrictive and hence is in urgent need of reform, but that paradoxically the Information Society Directive points the way towards a much more satisfactory approach.

Introduction; Part I. Where We Are: 1. Copyright and freedom of expression; 2. Fair dealing for the purposes of criticism, review and news reporting and related exceptions; 3. The public interest defence; 4. Use by researchers, educational establishments, libraries and archives; 5. The library and archive provisions and related exceptions; Part II. How We Got There: 6. Markets and metaphors; 7. Copyright in supranational fora; 8. Copyright in the domestic arena; Part III. Where We Go From Here: 9. The fair use panacea; 10. A model for reform.