THE DIGITAL CONTENT DIRECTIVE’S IMPLICATIONS ON THE EXERCISE OF COPYRIGHT AND MARKET COMPETITION

Abstract

Directive (EU) 2019/770 aims to strike a balance between achieving a high level of consumer protection and promoting the competitiveness of enterprises, laying down common rules on certain requirements concerning contracts between traders and consumers for the supply of digital content or a digital service. Although Directive (EU) 2019/770 should generally be without prejudice to national copyright laws, much of the digital content is covered by copyright protection. Copyright-protected works play a significant role in the digital content markets. With regards to copyright law, of particular interest is Article 10 of the Directive (EU) 2019/770, entitling consumers to remedies from the trader of digital content for lack of conformity, where restrictions resulting from a violation of an intellectual property right prevent or limit the use of the content. Although Article 10 should safeguard copyright-protected works, taking the complete Directive (EU) 2019/770 into consideration, in a certain way, it seems to have a questionable effect on copyright rightsholders and also on competition in relevant markets. Therefore, this research examines the possible implications of Directive (EU) 2019/770 on the exercise of copyright and market competition, with a view to the copyright-competition interaction issue.