Introduction

Subject to limited exceptions, the scope of copyright protection granted to audiovisual works in European Union Member States always equated the standard of protection of the main classes of copyright works. However, films, like musical works, were particularly affected by major technological developments in the entertainment and communication industries, which forced adaptations of the existing set of rights and limitations. The development of broadcasting in the 1930s necessitated a reconsideration of the scope of the performing right (droit de représentation). This resulted either in a wide construction of this right encompassing broadcasting (under a new ‘right of communication to the public’) or in the introduction of a specific broadcasting right. The same process applied in relation to cable and satellite distribution, which prompted adjustments in the protection of film works. The diffusion of video technology in the 1970s generated an important debate concerning rental and private copying of films. As a result, several countries introduced a rental right for ‘films’ and reassessed the scope of their private copy exemptions (in particular, in relation to recording for timeshifting).

With the advent of digital technology, there is now fear in the industry that the rights granted to film producers be not adapted to new modes of exploitation of films, like video-on-demand or on-line distribution of films.