The International Three-Step Test: A Model Provision for EC Fair Use Legislation

• Author: Martin Senftleben
• Position: Ph. D., Professor of Intellectual Property, VU University Amsterdam; Senior Consultant, Bird & Bird, The Hague.
• Pages: 67-82

The International Three-Step Test

2010

67

1

Abstract: The three-step test is central to

the regulation of copyright limitations at the inter-

national level.1 Delineating the room for exemptions

with abstract criteria, the three-step test is by far the

most important and comprehensive basis for the in-

troduction of national use privileges. It is an essential,

flexible element in the international limitation infra-

structure that allows national law makers to satisfy

domestic social, cultural, and economic needs. Given

the universal field of application that follows from

the test’s open-ended wording, the provision creates

much more breathing space than the more specific

exceptions recognized in international copyright law.2

EC copyright legislation, however, fails to take ad-

vantage of the flexibility inherent in the three-step

test. Instead of using the international provision as

a means to open up the closed EC catalogue of per-

missible exceptions, offer sufficient breathing space

for social, cultural, and economic needs, and en-

able EC copyright law to keep pace with the rapid

development of the Internet, the Copyright Direc-

tive 2001/29/EC encourages the application of the

three-step test to further restrict statutory excep-

tions that are often defined narrowly in national leg-

islation anyway.3

In the current online environment, however, en-

hanced flexibility in the field of copyright limitations

is indispensable. From a social and cultural perspec-

tive, the web 2.0 promotes and enhances freedom of

expression and information with its advanced search

engine services, interactive platforms, and various

forms of user-generated content. From an economic

perspective, it creates a parallel universe of tradi-

tional content providers relying on copyright protec-

tion, and emerging Internet industries whose further

development depends on robust copyright limita-

tions. In particular, the newcomers in the online mar-

ket – social networking sites, video forums, and vir-

tual worlds – promise a remarkable potential for

economic growth that has already attracted the at-

tention of the OECD.4

Against this background, the time is ripe to debate

the introduction of an EC fair use doctrine on the ba-

sis of the three-step test. Otherwise, EC copyright

law is likely to frustrate important opportunities for

cultural, social, and economic development. To lay

groundwork for the debate, the differences between

the continental European and the Anglo-American

approach to copyright limitations (section 1), and the

specific merits of these two distinct approaches (sec-

tion 2), will be discussed first. An analysis of current

problems that have arisen under the present dys-

functional EC system (section 3) will then serve as a

starting point for proposing an EC fair use doctrine

based on the three-step test (section 4). Drawing

conclusions, the international dimension of this fair

use proposal will be considered (section 5).

The International Three-Step Test

A Model Provision for EC Fair Use Legislation*

by Martin Senftleben, Amsterdam

Ph. D., Professor of Intellectual Property, VU University Amsterdam; Senior Consultant, Bird & Bird, The Hague.

© 2010 Martin Senft leben

Everbody may disseminate this article by electronic means and make it available for download under the terms and

conditions of the Digit al Peer Publishing Licence (DPPL). A copy of the license tex t may be obtained at http://nbn-resolving.

de/urn:nbn:de:00 09-dppl-v3-en8 .

Recommended citation: Mar tin Senftleben, The Internat ional Three-Step Test: A Model Provision for EC Fair Use Leg islation,

1 (2010) JIPITEC 67, para. 1.

Keywords: Three-step test, fair use, private copying, search engines, right of quotation, user-generated content,

press summaries, international harmonization

2010

Martin Senftleben

68

1

A. Copyright’s Legal Traditions

1 



  









  

    

  



2  

  



  











   

    











  





    

       

   







3

  

 











   

   

  



 





4  

   





 



5

   

    



 



6

       

  



   

    



 

    

   

     



  

   





   

  

 







   



7





  



   



    





    

    

    







  

 









B. Flexibility and Legal Certainty

8 

   

