End-user flexibilities in digital copyright law – an empirical analysis of end-user license agreements*

In the platform age, copyright protected contents are primarily disseminated over internet. This model poses various challenges to regime that was mainly designed in and for analogue age. One of these is related fair balance between interests rightholders other members society. Copyright norms try guarantee this by granting a high level protection preserving some flexibility end-users. The present article focuses on whether platforms' end-user license agreements contribute preservation balance, how they allow or diminish exercise user flexibilities. We collected, analysed compared private ordering practices 17 service providers grouped four main categories. Our empirical examination demonstrated intermediaries offer substantive flexibilities their consumers, one hand, meaningfully limit possibilities decrease expectations end-users restricting certain uses providing limited access contents, hand. measured selected platforms, we provided state art period preceding implementation deadline EU's CDSM Directive.