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UTRECHT JOURNAL OF Madeleine de Cock Buning 'Intellectual Property: The 21st Century's Most
INTERNATIONAL AND EUROPEAN LAW Compelling Legal Domain' (2016) 32(82) Utrecht Journal of International and
European Law 1, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/ujiel.300
EDITORIAL
Intellectual Property: The 21st Century's Most
Compelling Legal Domain
Madeleine de Cock Buning*
This special issue on 'Intellectual Property' in the Utrecht Journal of International and European law is well
positioned with the information age coming to its peak. It is the era in which digital copying and distribu-
tion through the internet has a profound transformative effect on the markets for copyright in music, games
and video, where services such as Spotify and iTunes are greatly suppressing DVD sales, and where illegal
downloading continues to impact industry daily It is the era where the Court of Justice of the European
Union (CJEU) is being presented with, among others, various questions about which acts on the internet
(e.g. hyperlinking) are to be considered distribution of copyrighted materials under the scope of the Direc-
tive Copyright in the Information Society' It so too is having to answer numerous preliminary references
of national courts on the harmonisation of trademarks, as well as on the scope of the Audiovisual Media
Service Directive 2010/13/EU on Internet platforms.2
At the same time, the European Commission (DG Connect) is currently in the middle of revising both
the Directive on Copyright in the Information Society3 and the Audiovisual Media Service Directive.4 These
efforts have proven to be quite a challenge considering the European informational sector operates within
the contours of an extremely rapidly changing landscape. On the internet, almost all information is avail-
able at arm's length, and is shared and is reused in a split second, largely ignoring possible copyright claims.
Passive television viewing is increasingly being substituted by the individual use of new services. Millions of
European citizens watch video on demand through websites like YouTube and Netflix, or catch up with their
favourite television series on a computer, tablet device or smartphone. In the meantime, such users can put
either their own user-generated content online, or that of others, making copyright protection redundant.
Traditional boundaries between consumers, broadcast media and the internet are diminishing, and the lines
between the familiar 20th century consumption patterns are blurring. Moreover, with smartphones, tablets,
and converged production, as well as an increasing consumption of information content, there will be a
further shift from 'lean-back' consumption to active participation. This progressive merger of traditional
services and the internet is known as 'convergence'.'
This trend towards digitisation and convergence has long been forecast, but is now indeed becoming a
reality6 Technology already allows users to create, distribute and access all types of content irrespective
of the time, place or device. The shift in the use of media by consumers, including the growing use of
on-demand services on the internet is significant. Children are increasingly adding on-demand services
to their media consumption through the internet. Although technological developments may offer many
Chaired Professor of Copyright, Media and Communication law, Utrecht University (the Netherlands); Chair to the Centre for Intellec-
tual Property (CIER), Molengraaff Institute for Private Law, RENFORCE, Faculty of Law, Governance and Economics Utrecht University;
Chair to the Centre for Access to and Acceptance of Autonomous Intelligence (CAAAi); Chair to the Advisory Board to the Ministry of
Justice; Chair to the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA); Vice-Chair to the National Copyright Society
(VVA); Membre Comite Executif Association Litteraire et artistique (ALAI); Honorary Judge to the Court of Appeal The Hague; Panel-
list, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Editor of the Journal for Intellectual Property and Advertisement Law (IER).
Council Directive 2001/29/EC of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the infor-
mation society [2001] OJ L167/ 1.
2 Council Directive 2010/13/EU of 10 March 2010 on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or admin-
istrative action in Member States concerning the provision of audiovisual media services (Audiovisual Media Services Directive)
[2010] OJ L95/1; Commission, 'Preparing for a Fully Converged Audiovisual World: Growth, Creation and Values' COM(2013) 231
final, 1.
3 Commission, 'A Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe' (Communication) COM(2015) 192 final.
4 Directive 2010/13/EU (n 2).
Madeleine de Cock Buning, 'De Mediamachine als Zevenkoppig Monster' (Inaugural Speech, Utrecht University, 2006).
Madeleine de Cock Buning, 'Towards a Future-Proof Framework for the Protection of Minors in European Audiovisual Media'
(2014) 10(5) Utrecht Law Review 9.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/merko32&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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