International conference “Pluralism or Universalism in international copyright law”

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We are very pleased to announce that the program for the Conference is now available (see here) and that registration is open. For two days, distinguished academics and legal professionals will analyse and discuss the pluralist or universalist evolution of international copyright law. Specifically, the conference will address two main questions:

• Is the Berne Convention’s ideological heritage of harmonisation of Copyright laws in peril?
• Should this eventual plurality of national responses be seen as a concern or, on the contrary, should a policy of a more profound regionalisation of Copyright law be pursued?

The conference, which aims to analyse the major evolutions and orientations of copyright law in an international context under the prism of the pluralism or universalism dilemma, is divided into three main parts:

• Part I: Regional copyright harmonisation: Necessary diversity or incompatibility with international copyright law standards?
• Part II: The Universalism or Pluralism dilemma in international copyright law making
• Part III: Do the knowledge economy and information society call for a uniform international copyright approach and why?

While the intensification of the trans-border flow of intangible assets protected by copyright law and the worldwide phenomenon of piracy call for universally harmonised responses in copyright law, in the global village the territorial constraints related to national copyright laws are seen as an impediment to the reality and the dynamic potential of the borderless circulation of copyright protected goods. Faced with the challenges of new communication technologies, national copyright laws are in a state of elasticity and of drastic reforms. This could lead to a fragmentation of the international legal framework due to divergent national responses.

25 academics, researchers and law practitioners will analyse the major copyright evolutions in Europe, the US, Canada and Africa, and the core of copyright law (economic and moral rights, authorship, exceptions, duration, copyright contracts, Internet enforcement, collective management of copyright and other key copyright law issues) under the prism of the international copyright acquis.

The conference provides a valuable opportunity for academics, lawyers, judges, consultants, researchers, policy makers, artists, creators, publishers, state authorities, private institutions and students to take part in a major international forum where the present and the future of copyright law will be discussed.

The program of the conference is available here. For more information and online registration, please visit the conference website.