The European Copyright Directive and Combinatorial Explosion

Abstract

The EU Copyright Directive was developed with the stated purpose of harmonising certain aspects of copyright and related rights, but at the time of its introduction it was an open question whether the European Union had competency to legislate on intellectual property rights. The directive was nevertheless justified on the basis of its harmonizing effect on the single market. This paper looks at the directive from a mathematical perspective and assesses the likelihood that any harmonization can have occurred.