Abstract

In this paper we show that the terms of the debate on copyright remain unchanged since the origins of copyright laws (Locke vs. Bentham). But digitization amplifies conflicts of interest at different levels and throughout the value chain: between artists and publishers or producers, between incumbent companies and Internet giants, between consumers and artists, and between European State Members, as happened during the 2018-19 discussion in the European institutions around a partial copyright reform. The controversial nature of the debate about copyrights is due to the fact that the question refers finally to the financing of culture and to the grounds of cultural policies. Protection of copyrights is crucial for cultural policies but the old compromise between protection and dissemination is probably obsolete. Two alternative ways of reform are suggested in the conclusions.