Pluralism or Universalism in International Copyright Law

Pluralism or Universalism in International Copyright Law, currently in its second edition, is an insightful and exhaustively researched book suggesting that despite the prevailing labyrinthine mosaic of divergent national responses to fragmentation at the international level, the foundations of a universal approach can be found in the interaction of regional, national and international copyright law instruments when responding to current and emerging technologies.

In a world where digital platforms are de facto regulators of the communication of copyright-protected works, the democratization of access to content has substantially expanded the availability of new markets and dramatically increased copyright infringements. Faced with these challenges, regional and national copyright systems are in search of elasticity and drastic reforms. Copyright ecosystems react variously either with the introduction of reforms or by staying inert, depending on their level of technological progress and their development of copyright law and political opportunism. This leads to a labyrinthine mosaic of divergent national responses to universal questions and fragmentation at the international level.

Elucidating the adaptation of copyright law to the needs of the digital era and the rise of Artificial Intelligence, this book furnishes vital approaches by eminent copyright scholars on whether pluralism or universalism is the appropriate path to follow for the development of international copyright law.

The authors deal with the following issues and topics:
- the application of core copyright law principles worldwide;
- authorship, rights and exceptions in the international copyright acquis;
- global collective management of copyright;
- copyright contracts;
- database and design rights;
- the global reach of the U.S. Fair Use doctrine;
- World Intellectual Property Organization’s role and strategy in international copyright lawmaking;
- a possible revision of the Berne Convention; and
- human rights and international copyright law.

Specific evolutions and emerging trends in national and regional digital copyright laws are analyzed and assessed as they have developed in the European Union, the United States and Canada. Throughout, attention is paid to compatibility with the Berne Convention, the perceived core of copyright law in the international copyright acquis, and the key question of the balancing of copyright law with fundamental rights from an international and comparative law perspective. 

This peerless book is a comprehensive analysis of how core copyright law concepts and principles function in today’s fragmented copyright legal system. Its in-depth treatment of numerous specific instruments and regimes, as well as its insightful approaches to the future of international copyright lawmaking, will prove to be invaluable to lawyers, judges, policymakers, academics and researchers working in the field of copyright law.