ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by defining what is meant by European or EU copyright law, making clear that the legislation adopted by the EU thus far in the field of copyright law does not represent the creation of a unified or supranational system of copyright protection. The legal basis for legislative developments will be expanded upon, demonstrating that harmonization has not only been the aim of the Community in the field of intellectual property law, but also the legal justification for forays into law-making in the field of copyright. This chapter then provides an overview of the traditional justifications for granting copyright protection as a means of familiarizing the reader with concepts that will be expanded upon in the networks of power chapters, discussing the differences between the economic incentive and natural rights approaches to copyright, and a brief consideration of the discourse concerning the UKs copyright system and continental Europes droit dauteur system being based on these two different conceptualizations.
