An overview of the development of copyright law in the republic of Croatia with an emphasis on the changes stipulated by harmonisation with the legal acquis of the EU

Abstract

Autorskopravni poredak u Republici Hrvatskoj (dalje RH) prošao je od njenoga osamostaljenja do danas kroz niz promjena. Neke su bile rezultat potrebe da se urede novonastali društveni odnosi. Naime autorsko je pravo u suvremenom društvu dinamična pravna grana zbog prirode nekih od društvenih odnosa koje regulira, a koji su pod neposrednim utjecajem ubrzanog razvoja tehnologije. Drugi ne manje važan razlog promjenama je potreba da se udovolji međunarodnim obvezama koje je Republika Hrvatska preuzela, što se u pravom redu odnosi na obvezu usklađivanja cjelokupnog pravnog poretka s acquis communautair, pravnom stečevinom Europske Unije (dalje EU). Autorica u svom radu upravo analizira evoluciju autorskopravnog poretka s obzirom na obveze RH koje koje proizlaze iz Sporazuma o stabilizaciji i pridruživanju koji je zaključila s EU i time se obvezala pružiti razinu zaštite autorskog i srodnih prava koja postoji u EU uključujući i učinkovita sredstva za provedbu tih prava.The order of copyright law in the Republic of Croatia (further referred to as RH in the text) has gone through a range of changes since independence to the present. Some have been the result of the necessity to regulate newly founded social relations. Copyright law in modern society is namely a dynamic branch of law due to the nature of some of the social relations it regulates, which are under direct influence of an accelerated development in technology. The other no less important reason for the changes is the need to satisfy the international obligations that the Republic of Croatia has assumed. This in the legal sense is related to the necessity of harmonising the entire legal order with the acquis communautaire, that is, the legal acquis of the European Union (later in the text referred to as EU). In this paper, the evolution of the order of copyright law is analysed given the obligations of RH. These obligations emerge from the Stabilisation and Association Agreement decided upon with the EU and entail taking on the obligation to offer the level of protection in copyright and related law which exists in the EU including also the effective resources for the implementation of these laws