Legal Aspects of Multimedia in Europe

Multimedia means multilegia. The basic copyright problem arises out of the fact that multimedia producers need to integrate a hugh quantity of copyrightable works (texts, pictures, music) in their products. This paper describes how the traditional European copyright law can cope with the requirements of the digital age. Instead of compulsory licensing, the collecting societies can manage digital licensing with consent of the rightsholders and through technical devices. The societies should work on the basis of uniform European supervision structure and via coordinating bureaus acting as clearing houses. The system of neighbouring rights however needs some extensions to guarantee sufficient protection for electronic publishers and phonograrn producers in relation to Digital Audiobroadcasting (DAB). Finally, the dogmatic classification of loading acts and electronic transmission has to be taken into account.