Harmonizing Intermediary Copyright Liability in the EU: A Summary

This chapter reviews the lessons of European tort law for intermediary liability in copyright in order to plot a path towards the European harmonization of the area. In the absence of a complete EU framework for intermediary accessory copyright liability, Member States currently rely on home-grown solutions. This chapter examines three examples of such solutions: those of the UK, France, and Germany. The selected national jurisdictions represent three major tort law traditions of Europe. The analysis reveals three cross-jurisdictional approaches to intermediary liability in copyright: intra-copyright solutions, tort-based solutions, and injunction-based solutions. On the basis of these options, and taking into account the lessons of existing projects on the harmonization of European tort law, as well as the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the chapter proposes a framework for European intermediary liability in copyright. As the chapter explains, this is informed by existing EU and national law on the copyright, tort, and fundamental rights level.