Copyright in published editions: what lessons does it teach us?

During the last few decades new technologies – such as the Internet – have disrupted publishers’, and especially press publishers’, business models. New online services, such as Google and Facebook, meant that people increasingly abandoned paid printed presses. Online platforms enabled sharing of news among users without paying back to press publishers, which led to the decrease in revenue for the press publishing industry. Accordingly, press publishers have been fighting to get copyright laws updated to address the challenges posed by new technological developments. In order to address these requests, the EU has recently introduced a new right for press publishers, analysed in this volume by Stavroula Karapapa, that is currently being implemented in the EU Member States. Press publishers hope that this new right will help protect their investment, ensure new streams of revenues and help them survive in a new technological and business environment.