By Patricia Cappuyns

Readers of this column may get the impression that all recent licence-related developments in Europe occur in the field of patent law. While it is true that things have been moving and shaking in that area (just think of all the excitement about FRAND patent licensing), there has also recently been an important judgment from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) about “fair compensation” for the unauthorized reproduction of copyrighted works. In light of the fact that the CJEU held that the Belgian system of fair compensation does not comply with the InfoSoc Directive, this reporter (being Belgian) was sufficiently intrigued to climb out of the patent trenches and dabble in some copyright instead.