First, let me introduce myself. I am Simone, a law student at the University of Trento, located in the North-East of Italy and very close to the Dolomites. During my studies, I became increasingly passionate about Intellectual Property (IP), and in the summer of 2024 I planned to spend a research period of three months abroad the following autumn (between October and December) to write part of my final dissertation. Thanks to my Italian supervisor, Prof. Roberto Caso, I got in contact with Dr. Rossana Ducato, whose interesting papers and articles I previously had the opportunity to read, and she agreed to act as hosting professor during my stay overseas. After arranging some bureaucracy, on the 1st of October 2024 I flew from Venice to Edinburgh. Right after getting off the plane, I took the train to Aberdeen. The journey was amazing: it went along the whole East coast of Scotland, and the day was sunny and warm (quite a rare weather for the British autumn!).
As a student passionate about IP – copyright in particular – I wanted to conduct my thesis on the highly debated topic of the potential role of law in fixing the longstanding crisis of the journalistic industry in the digital age. Particularly, I aimed to compare the two main approaches adopted by legal systems across the globe. The first, enacted in 2019 by the EU legislator with Article 15 of the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive (Directive 2019/790, “CDSMD”), is copyright-based, and consists in granting a new exclusive right (a so-called “ancillary right”) to press publishers to strengthen their position in the negotiation process with platforms for the online use of their content. The second, introduced in several common law jurisdictions (starting with Australia in 2021, followed by Canada and UK, respectively in 2023 and 2024) is competition-based and directly imposes an obligation on online service providers to bargain in good faith with news outlets under the scrutiny of antitrust authorities, without relying on the introduction of additional IP rights. Also, the implementation process of the CDSMD by single EU member States looked interesting, since it represented a meaningful example of legal “blending” of the original EU paradigm with the competition-based solutions.
Once I arrived in Aberdeen, I had the opportunity to collaborate with some of the outstanding scholars of the Centre for Commercial Law, also participating in their academic initiatives. The Centre for Commercial Law research group is highly active in the field of IP, and many of its members produce significant publications in which they investigate the impact of technological development on law, usually adopting an interdisciplinary approach contaminated with notions coming from other fields of expertise. One striking experience I had was in mid-November, when I was invited to participate in a class held by Dr. Ducato within the “Law & Artificial Intelligence” course. During the lecture we critically analysed the challenges posed to the copyright system by the rise of Artificial Intelligence. On one side, we examined the use of copyrighted materials in the “training” phase of AI models; on the other side, we discussed whether copyright protection could be granted to outputs generated using AI algorithms. The seminar turned out to be crucial for my understanding of the topic and prompted my research on the interplay between the emerging phenomenon of AI-journalism and the EU and common law regulatory responses.
The entire community of the School of Law – also including its students and PhD candidates – struck me as vibrant and deeply engaged with contemporary legal issues, and I am sure it represents a great environment to develop relevant research projects and academic paths.
Throughout the research period, I was given access to the University of Aberdeen’s extensive library resources, both on paper and online. Thanks also to the support provided by the library staff, this has proved to be fundamental for retrieving English-language literature and case-law, which would otherwise have been difficult for me to find.
But my Scottish stay wasn’t just about studying! It also included memorable experiences, such as spending a weekend in Edinburgh or taking day trips to Balmoral and Dunnottar Castle (all reachable by public transport, either train or bus). As a beginner runner, I could also frequently enjoy jogging around Seaton Park and along the beachfront.
Overall, I think that spending a research period abroad can be an extremely valuable experience. Especially for those interested in comparative law, it is quite essential to engage directly with other legal systems in order to better understand the reasons behind different solutions to similar social or economic problems. This is particularly true for areas of law such as IP, where the globalisation process has forced national jurisdictions to interact with each other and harmonise their legislation. Moreover, a research period abroad can put you in contact with a different way of conceiving university and its activities, and the community spirit I was able to feel at the University of Aberdeen was absolutely wonderful.
