Prior to the millennium shift, references to fundamental rights when interpreting intellectual property law in doctrine were limited. However, the influence of fundamental rights has been on the rise in the past decade, notably in the context of freedom of expression and information and copyright law. In the early parts of 2013, the European Court of Human Rights issued two important judgements, where the possibilities of external limitations on copyright arose. Furthermore, the trend reached its peak in the summer of 2019, as three decisions were delivered by the Court of Justice of the European Union in an effort to define the boundaries between freedom of expression and information and copyright. In essence, the Luxembourg Court takes a liberal approach to the interpretation of copyright law in the light of fundamental rights as guaranteed in the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the European Union but does not consider it possible to limit copyright through external means, beyond the exhaustive list of exceptions and limitations of Article 5 of the Infosoc Directive. This thesis argues that, despite furthering the trend by allowing for a broad interpretation of copyright law when necessary, the three most recent decisions are in contrast with the two judgements from the Strasbourg Court. Thus, Swedish courts must interpret European court practice in a way that, in certain circumstances, goes beyond the codified exceptions and limitations in favour of fundamental rights. Further guidance for the application of these types of external limitations on copyright is, however, necessary, as the two European courts have yet to paint a complete picture of the constitutionalization of copyright law.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-405881 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Shin, Daniel |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Juridiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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