Creative Commons

This dissertation was written as part of accomplishing the requirements for a degree in MA in Art Law and Arts Management at the International Hellenic University. Because of the rise of UGC platforms a modernized legislative framework that would regulate the issue of copyright infringements on such online platforms across the EU, was more than necessary. This need was met in 2019 with the adoption of the DSM Directive and its controversial article 17. This dissertation breaks down the provisions of the contested article in order to explain the new concepts that are introduced in the article and to contribute to its better understanding when implementing it. This aim is fulfilled by comparing the pre-existing legislation to the new one, together with the assistance of EU case law. Most of the provisions of article 17 appear problematic in the sense that they impose several duties on the OCSSPs to avoid being held liable for copyright infringements from communicating copyrighted works of righholders through their platform. One of the main measures that the OCSSPs have to take in order to be legal is algorithmic upload filters. The application of these filters, however, hampers the exercise of several fundamental rights of the users, but most importantly their freedom of expression and information. For the protection of these freedoms, the article provides for specific exceptions and limitations to copyright, nonetheless, it is doubtful whether this is enough to protect the users' rights.