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The purpose is to review public policies and government interventions in the book publishing industry, a sector where public policies have blossomed. The paper concentrates on five major issues: intellectual property rights and issue of infringements (piracy), the debate about the fixed price of books (vs free market) or the agency versus wholesale models, VAT discrimination between printed books and e-books, the role institutions like libraries and registration authorities, and competition issues.

This article is based on an extensive set of research initiated by the EC JRC IPTS on the “Statistical, ecosystems and competitiveness analysis of the Media and Content Industries”. The research implied an extensive review of the literature, meetings with players and validation workshops. This paper focuses more on the analysis of policy documents and position of players.

The paper shows a growing discrepancy between the leading position of the EU publishing industry and its position in on-line distribution and production of e-books. The EU leads the global publishing market, with companies like Bertelsmann, Hachette or Pearson. However, compared with the USA, in the EU, the e-book market is still negligible. The European e-book market is fragmented, expanding fast in the UK and lagging behind in other Member States. As digitisation of books and earlier on-line distribution of physical books are changing the landscape, the paper considers potential policies at EU level to coordinate, accompany and speed up the process of digitalisation.

The article stems from the research initiated by the IPTS on the “Statistical, ecosystems and competitiveness analysis of the Media and Content Industries” (MCI). This research was based on a review and synthesis of the available literature, desk research. The results were reviewed by experts from the book industry at dedicated meetings. The paper does not cover other important public policy issues such as the role in the functioning of democracies, triggering consequent rights and responsibilities with respect to human rights, democracy, and freedom of information and cultural diversity.

To contribute to the debate about the policies needed for the economic health and development conditions that will support the future competitiveness of the book publishing industry. There is a need to better understand if policies designed for the physical world will be effective in a digital world. Distribution is very different in a digital world from physical distribution; these supply-side policies may reach their limits.

In the media and entertainment markets, the book market is the only one where EU companies (Bertelsman, Hachette, Pearson, Wolters Kluwer) lead. However, this industry is one of the less covered segments of these markets. Besides, the paper combines a review of legacy policies such as copyright, fixed prices, and issues raised by the digital shift such as VAT discrimination between physical books and e-books.

I am a practising publisher and I approach the task this afternoon very much with that kind of bias. I am not an academic and I am not a real lawyer. I am a practising publisher with an interest in copyright. One of the most fascinating things that has happened over the last five to ten years is the way that interest in copyright, from being a rather arcane minor hobby of one or two people like myself in publishing, has suddenly become a central battlefield in the book world. What I want to do is to sketch in very broad terms some of the major battle sites.

“Companies, particularly those which sell goods or services direct to the public, regard their trade marks (whether brand names or pictorial symbols) as being among their most valuable assets. It is important therefore for a trading nation such as the United Kingdom to have a legal framework for the protection of trade marks which fully serves the needs of industry and commerce. The law governing registered trade marks is however fifty years old and has to some extent lost touch with the marketplace. Moreover it causes some of the procedures associated with registration to be more complicated than they need be.” This introductory paragraph to the Government's recent White Paper on “Reform of Trade Marks Law” indicates that reform is in the air. The primary pressure for reform has emanated from Brussels with the need to harmonise national trade mark laws before the advent of the Single European market on 1st January 1993. To this end the Council of Ministers adopted a harmonisation directive in December 1988 which must be translated into the national laws of member states by 28th December 1991.

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The problems that the great developments in digital information and the Internet are creating for copyright may be partly solved through new legislation as well as through the implementation of technological systems (generically known as ECMS) that help protect it. These two approaches – legal and technological – interact, as the new copyright laws protect these electronic measures through the prohibition of their circumvention. The contents of the three main legal norms that have regulated this area to date, the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the European Directive and the new Australian Copyright Act, are analysed in an attempt to determine what impact they might have on the traditional limitations and exceptions to copyright (fair use/dealing, private copying, library privileges) that benefit libraries, their users and the general public.

The purpose of this paper is to provide awareness of various copyright concerns that may arise by the usage of web 2.0 technology and some answers to possible concerns.

The paper looks at web 2.0 technology which is currently used in libraries against a backdrop of the US Copyright statute, CONTU guidelines, and copyright concerns mentioned in library literature and law reviews.

For libraries to build a community of users, they will need to make their services more interactive. Interactive services increase the chance of patrons violating copyright law. Copyright guidelines need to be developed to assist the patron in avoiding copyright infringement.

This paper looks at library services, such as RSS feeds, wikis, social networking, tagging, and patron reviews, and explores the legal ramifications to making these services more interactive.

This paper aims to give a snapshot of the copyright and neighboring rights law of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), illustrating the provisions governing the law. It seeks to frame UAE copyright provisions within the context of the principles of copyright and the structure of international copyright protection.

The article begins with an overview of copyright laws. It highlights the central issues of concern to education, librarianship, and scholarship, depicting the complexity that the digital era has brought on copyright doctrines. It then explains the exclusive rights granted under the law, showing its orientation toward the civil law tradition with its emphasis on moral rights.

The author observes that a key effort to making practical sense of copyright in this region entails educating key communities, and emphasizing the importance of copyright limitations and exceptions pertaining to educational institutions and libraries. He advocates for applying copyright to the advantage of academic and research communities, and offers strategies strengthening the right of use in favor of these communities. Understanding the concepts and principles of copyright will make these communities proponents of sound copyright policies that will safeguard the promotion of learning and the right of public access, while still protecting intellectual property rights.

There has not been any discussion in the library literature on copyright in the UAE and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Therefore, this case study of the UAE copyright and neighboring rights law aims to provoke such discussion. It should be useful to the whole library community, and particularly those in the UAE and other GCC countries.

This chapter reviews the economics literature on the development aspects of a substantially strengthened global regime of intellectual property rights (IPR). In this regime developing countries must adopt tighter standards governing patents, copyrights, and related policies, in order to protect global innovation. Some analytical literature finds that these changes could improve prospects for technology flows to poor countries, helping to integrate them into the global knowledge economy. Other authors raise deep concerns about whether these policy shifts will restrict growth through raising the costs of imitation, innovation, and acquiring international technologies. Poor countries may face permanently higher costs, raising questions about both the efficiency and equity implications. The chapter considers first the role of a balanced IPR regime in an overall economic development policy. This balance could involve widely varying protection standards at differing levels of economic development, growth, and social preferences. This situation is especially true in the world economy, where poorer countries may prefer to free ride on available international technologies. Much of the theoretical literature takes this view, suggesting that harmonized global policies could reduce innovation and growth. More recent literature takes a broader view of the ability of IPR to build global technology markets and support international information exchanges. Ultimately these are empirical questions and the available literature differs considerably in analytical approaches and conclusions. Thus, the chapter analyzes contributions from theory, empirical analysis, and case studies regarding prospective improvements or impediments to economic development arising from IPR reforms. These issues are especially important in public health and nutrition. The chapter concludes with an overview of how the globalized nature of IPR protection could affect developing countries. The essential point is that policy governing patents and copyrights needs to be embedded effectively in an overall economic development strategy.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.