The Right to Research as Guarantor for Sustainability, Innovation and Justice in EU Copyright Law

Abstract

Research is essential for scientific, cultural, and social advancement and will be crucial for economic and societal recovery in a post-pandemic world. Restrictions to access and use of information contained in copyright-protected expression, however, can constitute significant hindrances to conducting research efficiently, especially since modern research methods rely on accessing, storing and processing large amounts of digitised data. The digital environment and its tremendous potential to enable new forms of research has accentuated the urgency of addressing the issue from a constitutional perspective under the heading of “digital constitutionalism”. This article argues that a “right to research” derived from international and European human and fundamental rights law can play an important role in the future to remove copyright barriers to research activities and to inform reforms towards more sustainable and research-friendly copyright laws in the EU.