EU copyright law and Dali’s Paranoiac-critical method

We know copyright today as an intrusive and ubiquitous regulatory scheme, global in both the literal and the physical senses, spanning both time and space.?

Salvador Dali defines the Paranoiac-critical method as the ability of the brain to perceive links between things which rationally are not linked. A method of irrational knowledge based on associations and critical interpretations of bewildered phenomena. The concept can be compared to Bridget Riley’s optical artworks or Max Ernst's frottage.??

Copyright is still mainly regulated by national laws. To this day, there is no global harmonization on? the European level but a large number of specific directives. EU copyright law consists of eleven directives and two regulations, harmonizing the essential rights of authors, performers, producers and broadcasters. Many of the EU directives reflect Member States' obligations under international framework such as the Berne Convention and the Rome Convention. The Commission monitors the implementation of the EU copyright law and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has developed a substantial body of case law which interprets the provisions of the Directives.?

How may common copyright cases under the protection of EU law may appear seemingly disparate? through Dali’s Paranoiac-critical method??

Champagne on ice

Winemaking regions of Europe may be inhospitable to grape production by 2050. By contrast, the climate of southern England is increasingly resembling to that of Champagne and its sparkling wine production is gathering pace.

Coincidentally, the EU and the United Kingdom following Brexit have agreed that the stock of existing EU-approved geographical indications will be legally protected by the Withdrawal Agreement unless and until a new agreement applying to the stock of geographical indications is concluded in the context of the future relationship. Such geographical indications are existing intellectual property rights in the United Kingdom and the EU today. All existing EU geographical indications on 31 December 2020 are protected under UK law (as well as EU law), but this is not the case for designations registered after that date.?

The paranoiac believes things that are false. Yet through their illness, they allow their minds to elevate to a new level of reality.?

Providing any political dispute in the years to come among the UK and France or the EU, UK could very well cancel French Champagne geographical indication in retaliation. Counterfeit would spread. Based on climate change and its impact English Champagne would reasonably sound legitimate. Therefore, there is a high likelihood for genuine Champagne to be produced in England by 2050.?

Troyan 2.0

In the European Union, a safety concern arises from 3D printing has been brought to the forefront. The functioning of a 3D printer is heavily reliant on a design file, which describes what the printer should print. The future potential of 3D printing rests on the creation and dissemination of design files. Lately, a 3D printing advocate has posted his design online for a 3D printed gun.

According to Dali, if rationality brought about warfare that subjugated members of society, then irrationality would represent the antidote. The Flower Power is a photograph taken by American photographer Bernie Boston for the now-defunct newspaper The Washington Star. Taken on October 21, 1967, during the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam's March on the Pentagon, the photo shows a Vietnam War protester, George Harris, placing a flower into a rifle held by a soldier of a police battalion. A worthwhile proposition would be to create a 3D printing pattern out of this flower. Once maid, widely distribute the concealed design file among darknet clandestine markets and platforms.

Consequently, such a large number of corrupted files would saturate and lower the availability of 3D printed actual weapons.?

Three pennies and a ball of lint

The paper note primary security devices issued by the European Central Bank is yet another interesting case. The security features incorporated into the euro banknotes include the watermark, the security thread, the see–through number, the raised print and the shifting image on the hologram. According to a 26 January 2021 joined case, a euro area Member State can oblige its administration to accept payments in cash. The EU Court notes that the status of legal tender of banknotes and coins denominated in euro implies, in principle, an obligation to accept them.

Dali defines his method as the ability of the artist or the viewer to perceive multiple images within the same configuration, the Euro bank note hologram strip with shifting colours. Some of these security features are visible from both sides, when the note is held up to the light. A prime example of a "double image", where a single piece of canvas and paint presents equally well two distinct and incompatible images, as in his famous Swans Reflecting Elephants (1937). Aren’t EU administrative expenses widely criticized ? In 2022, the overall administrative expenditure corresponds to 6.26% of the total budget of EUR 169.52 billion.

Perhaps the solution could be to produce a computer-generated hologram which would reproduce digitally bank notes to accelerate transactions within administrations.?

A new Twist

Nineteenth-century copyright was territorially circumscribed. Such that the two great markets for English-language books existed in legal isolation. US-based publishers could legally reprint British bestsellers and classics. Much to the chagrin of writers like Charles Dickens who wore out his transatlantic welcome in 1842 by persistently campaigning for transatlantic copyright protection.The other way around, a century and a half further, the European Court of Justice ruled in 22 June 2021 that YouTube and other internet platforms are not liable for copyright-protected content users upload as a general principle.?

Copyright ubiquity such as Dali’s paranoiac illusions - faces seen in rocks, landscapes in marble and the anthropomorphic forms of plant - anguished and anxious expressions of its chilling effects. Following the imposition of an EU copyright in America dedicated to the repression of content publisher, the EU court steps back on Europe copyright imperialism. Here is a case of copyright non-imperialism: following this shifting principle , would then Dali’s illusions be nothing but sheer reality??

Resolution?

We sought to raise questions of ownership, whether covering appellation shifts, anti-counterfeiting measures, gun control policies, matters of authorship, issues at the core of many intellectual property laws. The role of the court remains that of interpreting EU law provisions, in light of a rationale. Dali was fascinated all his life with illusions, inspired in part by viewing the works of Arcimboldo of the 16th century. The exemplary form of this were among others Dalí’s Spain (1936-38), Metamorphosis of Narcissus (1937) or Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea (1976). A paranoiac believes things that are false. Yet through their illness, they allow their minds to “elevate” to a new level of reality.?

EU integration was itself largely illusory in the first place. In this sense, EU Copyright should not be limited to copyright lawyers but turn to a whole new frame of references.