This book deals with the protection of film works within the European Union. It is designed to help students, academics and practitioners discover and understand the richness and complexity of the matter, in the context of the European harmonisation of copyright laws. It attempts to describe in detail the main features of the domestic legislation of EU Member States, and to identify the difficulties awaiting a further harmonisation of copyright and neighbouring rights in this field.

Of course, the result falls short of my initial, ideal objectives. This book is not a reference book on film copyright. Rather, it aims to give students and academics alike an introduction to the subject, leading to further research. The book also aims to be of some help to professionals in the film industry.

It was impossible for me to give an account of the legislation of the fifteen EU Member States with the same level of detail. As a result, I have focused primarily on the laws of the United Kingdom and France. There is no need to justify the choice of UK copyright law, given the importance of the UK film industry in Europe and the role played by the Copyright Acts of 1956 and 1988 as legislative models in several copyright countries. Continental and American readers may be surprised to see how different UK solutions are from those of the US. The choice of the French system may also be justified for similar reasons.