The JurisLab (Centre for Private Law / Fab Lab ULB) of the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and the Commercial Law Centre of the University of Nottingham are pleased to jointly launch Estelle Derclaye & Gilles Stupfler’s book, EU Copyright Law Harmonisation, An Empirical Analysis of National Courts Case Law, Hart/Bloomsbury, September 2025.
The event will take place at the Université Libre de Bruxelles on 18 September 2025, 18h-20h at Usquare Campus, Grand Hall AC.0.01, access through Avenue Général Jacques 210A, or down the stairs Avenue de la Couronne 229.
The launch will feature three commentators discussing the book, Tamas Szigeti (Lawyer at Wiggin and formerly at the DG Connect), Frédéric Blockx (Vice-President of the Enterprise Court of Antwerp) and Julien Cabay (Professor at the Faculty of Law and Director of JurisLab, ULB). The comments and discussions will last ca. 1 hour.
As per the publisher’s website, the book provides the first comprehensive comparative and empirical analysis of the state of harmonisation in EU copyright law in the 27 Member States, and the UK, at the level of national courts. For 3 decades, the EU has harmonised many aspects of copyright law via EU legislation and the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). However, it is not known whether national courts actually comply with it, as a comprehensive analysis of the national case law has not yet been done. This book addresses this major gap in the literature. In the book, a lawyer and a statistician analyse some of the most recent decisions on EU copyright law issued by the 27 Member States and the UK (pre- and post-Brexit), using doctrinal and quantitative methodologies. The main research question addressed is whether there is disharmony in the national case law and whether this is owed to Members States' misimplementing EU copyright legislation, lack of clarity of EU legislation and/or case law, or national courts being unaware, misinterpreting or resisting CJEU case law. The book provides detailed legal analyses and descriptive statistics per topic, per type of work, per country, across countries and over time supported by statistical analysis. Its findings and in-depth reflections on the law and how to improve it are of crucial relevance for policymakers and the judiciary at EU and national level and will interest scholarly audiences in the UK, EU, EEA and beyond.
Following the discussion and the Q&A from the audience, a drinks and canapés reception will be held.
The event is open to all but places are limited, so please register here to secure a place by 15 September through this link : https://forms.office.com/e/fPUMU5A8gr