In the public interest
IRIS Special 2008 - Searching for Audiovisual Content
In 1989/90 Tim Berners-Lee developed the World Wide Web (WWW) for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). Barely 20 years old, it has made an unprecedented impact on the way we deal with information. The WWW has Become a key resource for private life and business. To Each of us it...
IRIS Plus 2008-6: Progress in the Must-offer Debate? Exclusivity in Media and Communication
This IRIS plus looks at the various dimensions of exclusivity in media and communication. This IRIS plus considers the current debate on whether the obligation to transmit (must-carry) certain content should be replaced or at least supplemented by an obligation to offer such content (must-offer)....
IRIS Plus 2008-5: Audiovisual Media Services and the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive
Consumer interests take a prominent place in the law of audiovisual media services. This IRIS plus explains to what extent and why. It also tells its readers how the general legal principles relate to media-specific legislation.
IRIS Plus 2008-4: The Promotion of Cultural Diversity via New Media Technologies: An Introduction to the Challenges of Operationalisation
This IRIS plus presupposes that it is important to clarify potential meanings of cultural diversity and arising concepts if we wish to experience cultural diversity in the form of concrete results. The need for clarification becomes more pressing with a view to technological advances which...
IRIS Plus 2008-3: User-Generated Content Services and Copyright
This IRIS plus looks at the EU and US American copyright framework concerning UGC and how it has translated into case law. Suspecting that neither the pending revision of the relevant EU e-commerce Directive nor further court decisions might settle the matter entirely, the article also explores...
IRIS Plus 2008-2: Media Windows in Flux Challenges for Audiovisual Media Chronology
This IRIS plus does not deal with economic considerations, but with the legal framework on which an economic strategy, however it is chosen, must be built. The author begins by explaining how rules on media chronology have developed. On this basis, it is easy to see who defines the media windows...
IRIS Plus 2007-6: Online Games from the Standpoint of Media and Copyright Law
It is clear from this edition of IRIS plus that an unambiguous legal framework for online games has yet to be established, so these issues will remain topical. Paul Göttlich's article also usefully documents the rules that definitely can be applied to online games already.
IRIS Plus 2007-4: Safeguarding Human Dignity in the European Audiovisual Sector
This IRIS plus looks into the legal roots and main elements of human dignity as an important standard for audiovisual media services.
IRIS Plus 2007-3: Audiovisual Archives and the Inability to Clear Rights in Orphan Works
This article will examine and evaluate solutions which could possibly be introduced at European or national level to overcome the rights clearance issues caused by the orphan works problem.
IRIS Plus 2007-1: Digital Rights Management Systems (DRMs): Recent Developments in Europe
This article provides an overview on recent developments concerning DRMs in Europe, with the aim of bringing some clarity to the relevant legal issues.