Stockholm university
Denna sida på svenska

Branka Marusic

About me

I am an Associate senior lecturer in IP law and a qualified Croatian lawyer with diverse professional experience working as a practising lawyer, academic, and legal consultant in projects involving harmonisation and codification of laws in the EU. My primary work interest is the harmonisation of laws in the EU for which I have participated in over 40 projects for the EU Commission. In my academic career, I have used this work experience to observe the harmonisation of intellectual property law in the EU for which I have written a monograph (doctoral thesis) and more than 30 scientific journal contributions. I hold an LL.D. and an L.L.M. degree from Stockholm University, and a mag.iur. degree from Zagreb University.

Teaching

I mostly provide teaching in IP law and EU law at Swedish and Croatian Universities.

Research 

My main area of research is the harmonisation and codification of laws in the EU. My book titled The Autonomous Legal Concept of Communication to the Public: Interpretation in EU Copyright Law discusses harmonisation in copyright – specifically copyright in an online context. The major bulk of my research revolves around creative industries and how digitalisation, legislation as well as interpretation of that legislation influences them. I regularly attend conferences in the field of intellectual property and EU law as a presenter and speaker. In 2023/2024 I was based in Oxford as an SCCL-Oxford Fellow. For a detailed list of my publications please visit DiVA.

Visiting Scholar

Research Associate at Centre for Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary, University of London (March-June 2019)

Stagiaire in the chambers of Judge Sascha Prechal (Netherlands) at the Court of Justice of the European Union (September- October 2019)

Academic Journals

I am a regular contributor for GRUR International (OUP and C. H. Beck), an academic journal specialising in intellectual property and competition law as the national reporter for Sweden. I am also part of the ERT – Europarättslig tidskrift editorial board.

News outlets, blogs

I contribute to the largest Croatian newspaper Jutranji list by writing editorials on intellectual property law and EU law matters. My contribution on what are geographical indications of origin and how can one use them for wine can be found here, or what judgements of the CJEU in copyright matters mean for everyday users can be found here. I also contribute to academic blogs. My two last contributions can be found here, and here.

Publications

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

  • The Autonomous Legal Concept of Communication to the Public: Interpretation in EU Copyright Law

    2023. Branka Marušić.

    Book

    The economic right of a copyright holder to communicate to the public has become an increasingly important and complex issue in recent years, this is partially due to changes in the way that content is accessed and consumed online. This innovative book analyses the right of communication to the public, taking account of what legal standing an autonomous legal concept can hold, and how this is impacted by wider harmonisation efforts at an EU level.

    The book explores the scope of the right of communication to the public in a twofold manner: Firstly, it examines the legal standing and effect, from a constitutional perspective of an autonomous legal concept. Secondly, it analyses CJEU case law, grouping cases by type of communication model to demonstrate what kind of authorisation is required to permit widened communication to the public online. Marušić builds on both strands of analysis to propose an operational model of communication for future use, that can aid in identifying and remedying infringements.

    Providing novel analysis on the definition and status of autonomous legal concepts in the EU, and setting this analysis against the context of harmonisation processes, this book will be of great interest to scholars working in both copyright law and EU law more widely.

    Read more about The Autonomous Legal Concept of Communication to the Public

  • The mere provision of physical facilities for acts of communication to the public revisited - joined cases Blue Air and CFR (C-775/21) and (C-826/21)

    2023. Branka Marušić. European intellectual property review 45 (9), 551-556

    Article

    The inclusion of the term "mere provision of physical facilities", as evidenced in the preparatory works for the World Intellectual Property Office Copyright Treaty (WCT), was to shield internet service providers (ISPs) from liability for infringing communication to the public originating with a third party. In the European Union (EU), this term has been introduced as a recital to the InfoSoc Directive, and as such was applied beyond its original purpose. Primarily, it has been used to related rights and secondly, it has been applied in physical realities, assessing liabilities of hotels, rental cars, aircraft, and trains for copyright infringement. The assessment was based on focusing on what is a "physical facility" and what is a "mere provision". The Blue Air and CFR case offers two insights into the "mere provision". The first insight is that a mere provision can be automatic in nature. The second insight is that the automation that enables an act of communication can be for the benefit of travellers independently of their will.

    Read more about The mere provision of physical facilities for acts of communication to the public revisited - joined cases Blue Air and CFR (C-775/21) and (C-826/21)

  • Nihil Sub Sole Novum: The CJEU Ruling on the Validity of Article 17 of the DSM Directive

    2022. Branka Marušić. NIR 2022 (3), 281-294

    Article

    This article discusses the validity challenge of Article 17 of the DSM Directive by analysing three legal issues put forward in the CJEU’s judgement: the severability of provisions contained in directives, the liability regime contained in Article 17 of the DSM Directive, and whether this Article safeguards the essence of Charter’s fundamental rights.

    Read more about Nihil Sub Sole Novum

  • The implementation of Article 15 of the DSM Directive in Croatia: a gold-plating provision

    2022. Branka Marušić. Journal of intellectual property law and practice

    Article

    • ‘Gold-plating’ is a term widely used with reference to the implementation of European Union(EU) directives. It refers to a situation in whicha national implementing provision extends thescope of an EU directive.

    • In operational terms, a gold-plating provision provides for additional burdens for businesses andindividuals alike; most importantly, it interfereswith the expected aims that a directive seeks toachieve.

    • Te Croatian implementation of the DSM Directive (Directive 2019/790) has several examples ofgold-plating provisions. In this article, only one isdiscussed: the transposing provision of Article 15.

    Read more about The implementation of Article 15 of the DSM Directive in Croatia

  • The concept of terroir tested

    2021. Branka Marusic. Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice 16 (4-5), 435-441

    Article

    This article

    This article looks into wine as a credence product, whose bond of trust is vested in the concept of terroir as a signal to the consumer that the wine she or he is buying originates from a specific location and is made in specific circumstances. The main question of the present analysis is what the legal consequences are when such terroir is shared between two EU Member States, looking into the examples of wines Tokaj and Teran.Arguments advanced in the article are that, on the EU-wide level, there are two effects of the shared terroir. The first effect is a shared PDO; and the second effect is an artificial enlargement of terroir that is not linked to the original geographical position. 

    Read more about The concept of terroir tested

  • Author’s Right to Choose

    2020. Branka Marušić. EU Internet Law in the Digital Era, 137-160

    Chapter

    This chapter provides an analysis in the material scope of application of the moral right of divulgation and the economic right of communication to the public in the EU’s digital single market. The aim is to bring forward arguments why the application of both rights should only be addressed through the protection afforded by the economic right. The rationale behind this is that the right of divulgation, as a moral right of the author, and the right of communication to the public, as an economic right of the author, both share the same trigger point for their application. This trigger point consists of the author’s choice in sharing her or his work with the public, in which the author of the work also chooses the manner, shape and place where this sharing will occur.

    Unlike the economic right of communication to the public, which has been harmonised in the EU, the right of divulgation, as a moral right is deeply rooted in the national legislative and judicial interpretation of the Member States that recognise this moral right of the authors. In line with this and for this chapter, analysis of the material scope of the application of the right of divulgation is evaluated through the monistic and dualistic approach to the regulation of copyright, and the jurisdictions that are analysed are primarily France and Germany.

    Against this background, the analysis in the chapter provides for overlapping interpretational criteria of both rights that encompass an act of sharing, the definition of what the public is, and what the modes of dissemination of work are.

    Read more about Author’s Right to Choose

  • Derogating Regulative and Enforcement Powers in Copyright Protection in the Digital Market: A Trojan Horse for the EU?

    2017. Branka Marušić. Croatian Yearbook of European Law & Policy 13, 169-190

    Article

    The proposal for a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Market contains a proposal to harmonise protection of copyright in the digital market and to close the so-called 'value gap'. The value gap is a term that, in the realm of online copyright dissemination, signifies a situation where the right holder (for example, the author of a song) is not adequately remunerated for his or her work. This situation usually occurs when his or her song is made available on an online platform, such as YouTube, and he or she is not paid for the use and enjoyment of the work. The current market mechanism to tackle this problem is done via licensing schemes.

    This paper will analyse the possible Trojan horse that is hidden in this proposal in order to ask whether, when it comes to online regulation and enforcement of copyright, the deployment of article 114 TFEU is the correct legal basis for the EU to enhance accountability of internet service providers in the regulation and enforcement of copyright.

    Read more about Derogating Regulative and Enforcement Powers in Copyright Protection in the Digital Market: A Trojan Horse for the EU?

Show all publications by Branka Marusic at Stockholm University

Edit the profile