Does geo-blocking help the European film industry, or does it weaken it? This question is explored by Pavel Zahrádka and Rudolf Leška in the study published in Flexibilities in Copyright Law

The study, “Territoriality as a Copyright Inflexibility? The Case of European Film Distribution,” appears in Flexibilities in Copyright Law, published by Routledge. The book is edited by Caterina Sganga and Tatiana Eleni Synodina from the Department of Law at the University of Cyprus, with which the CIRG team collaborates on research into the impact of copyright law on the cultural sector.

The chapter examines how the current principle of territoriality—i.e., restricting the availability of audiovisual works by country—does not align with the EU’s strategy for creating a single market. It points out that this system is overly rigid and hinders the free circulation of films and series across Europe. European audiovisual works rarely travel beyond the borders of their country of origin, which is disadvantageous both for authors and producers, whose works reach a smaller audience, and for the public, which has limited access to cultural content. The authors aim to find a balanced solution between two extreme approaches—fully maintaining territoriality and completely abolishing it. They propose practical measures to improve access to content within the EU without harming the legitimate interests of film producers. Suggested measures include allowing purchases from foreign online services (so-called passive sales) and better use of collective licensing schemes for works no longer commercially available. The published study in Flexibilities in Copyright Law is an output of the project The Ethics of Access to Audiovisual Online Content.