Speakers:

• Jannis Lennartz (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and visiting researcher at ILEO)
• Viktoria Kraetzig (Goethe University and visiting researcher at ILEO)
• Christophe Geiger (Luiss University and Director of ILEO)
• Silvia Scalzini (University of Parma and Member of ILEO)
• Ludovico Bossi (Luiss University and Member of ILEO)

Chair: Christophe Geiger (Luiss University and Director of ILEO)

Date and Time: September 17th, 2025, 14:00 – 16:00 h.

Room: Aula 19 – Via Parenzo

Link: https://luiss.webex.com/luiss/j.php?MTID=m7fba7e273f7ce936eb2cd246ef711904

Please register and confirm your attendance at ileo@luiss.it (mandatory for externals to enter the Luiss Premises)

For the first ILEO seminar after the summer break, two recent papers by ILEO visiting researchers and ILEO members will be presented and discussed with the audience.

I. Does Copyright Law Only Protect Great Art?

Jannis Lennartz & Viktoria Kraetzig

Abstract:

Copyright has lost its form. A law that is supposed to serve the protection of “personal intellectual creations” of “literature, science and arts” treats everyday content like great art. This leads to an unseemly increase in protected works. The proliferation of unworthy works is a problem for the legitimacy of copyright law as well as a risk for the fundamental rights of third parties since, in the digital age, we communicate and create more and more via copyrighted works. To reframe copyright’s concept of work under the conditions of digital reproduction, we propose a twofold approach: to combine a historic argument – returning to the beginnings of the concept of work – with constitutional law by linking copyright’s work and constitutional law’s freedom of the arts. To be accepted as a “work” and to be protected by copyright law, an artifact does not need to be a masterpiece but should at least aspire to be a valuable work. It must show a will to form.

II. Time to (Finally) Reinstall the Author in EU Copyright Law: From Contractual Protection to Remuneration Rights

Christophe Geiger, Silvia Scalzini & Ludovico Bossi

Abstract:

The fair remuneration of authors and performers for the exploitation of their work is at the core of the rationales of copyright and related rights. Furthermore, the remuneration of creators benefits from strong fundamental rights justification at the international and European level. However, the copyright system has since its inception poorly delivered on this objective, the revenues generated by the exploitation of creative works being still often unfairly distributed to authors and performers. Most recently, their revenues have also been affected by crises like the Covid-19 pandemic and the increasing use of generative AI technologies to output works potentially competing with those of human creators.

The article argues that wider use of remuneration rights appears the better way forward. Tracing the latest developments, it explores the policy options to implement the different types of remuneration rights (i.e., residual, other per se, and “limitation-based”). It analyzes several national experiences and pending CJEU referrals to identify clear principles for the development, at the EU and international level, of better-functioning remuneration systems for creators, thus securing that the copyright system can (finally) fulfil one of the main functions for which it has been established.

Link to the publication: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5330841

About the Speakers:

Jannis Lennartz is Visiting Professor for Constitutional Law and Legal Philosophy at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Viktoria Kraetzig is Postdoc at Goethe University with a focus on Intellectual Property and Competition Law. They work on a joint project “Copyright’s Work as Work of Art” reframing copyright’s concept of work under the conditions of digital reproduction. Their approach is twofold: It combines a historic argument - returning to the beginnings of the concept of work in the 19th century - with constitutional law: linking copyright’s work and constitutional law’s freedom of the arts. They are visiting ILEO / Luiss Department of Law in September this year.

Christophe Geiger is Professor of Law at Luiss University and Director as well as founder of the Innovation Law and Ethics Observatory (ILEO). Silvia Scalzini is Associate Professor in Commercial Law at University of Parma, scientific coordinator of the Master in Competition and Innovation Law at Luiss University, and Member of ILEO. Ludovico Bossi is PhD Candidate in Law and Business at Luiss University and Member of ILEO.