The research focuses on the analysis of the reshaping of the concept of Party Autonomy in
European Intellectual Property Law. Then, it raises some questions about the future of IP
contracts in European law, with particular attention to the issue of copyright contracts in
digital environment.
Last Update: 21.07.15
The period of research at the Institute has been mainly devoted to a better structuring of the
work and to the analysis of the most relevant works in literature. The general principle of
Party Autonomy in Europe and its limitations have been investigated, especially in the realm
of Intellectual Property law. A model of the relationship between law and freedom of contract
in Europe, with a synchronic glimpse over different IP rights, is of particular relevance for the
foundations of the study. Then, some examples related to the trend of freedom of contract to
overcome the balance of interest fixed by legislators in IP law have been examined, with a
focus on the CJEU case - law on IP contracts-related issues (e.g. Luksan, C 277/10 (February,
9 2012); UsedSoft GmbH v Oracle International Corp. C-128/11 (July 3, 2012) ). Regarding
the problems created by some new online uses of content protected by copyright (i.e. opt-out
strategies, linking and displaying third parties’ content online) and the implied license
doctrine, the article “Is There Free-Riding? A Comparative Analysis of The Problem of
Protecting Publishing Materials Online in Europe” has been implemented, submitted and then
published by Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice.
In this timeframe, the development of the study of copyright-related issues has been
privileged and it could benefit of the insights provided by my supervisor at MPI, Dr. Sylvie
Nérisson. According to my research project initiated at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, further
aspects related to other IP rights will be investigated in the continuation of the work.
Lastly, the work in progress has been further enriched by the opportunity to discuss my ideas
with the research group of MPI, and in particular with Prof. Dr. Josef Drexl.
Silvia Scalzini
Dr. Sylvie Nérisson
Prof. Dr. Giovanni Comandé
Zielsetzungen der Europäischen Union
