On September 23, 1912, the Dutch Copyright Act - Auteurswet - was enacted. A century after its
enactment the Dutch law is one of the world's oldest 'living' acts of the author's rights tradition. While the Act has seen many small and large amendments since its adoption in 1912, it has never been thoroughly revised, so its conception and basic structure have remained essentially intact.

This book celebrates the hundredth anniversary of the Dutch Act. It traces and assesses, for an international readership, the development of Dutch copyright law since its codification in 1912 until today. The book focuses on the interesting or even unique features of Dutch copyright law, with a view to the on-going harmonization of copyright law in the European Union, and possible future unification. What can Europe or the world at large learn from a century of Dutch copyright law, jurisprudence and doctrine? What solutions might inspire the European legislature or law makers elsewhere in the world? What mistakes are better to be avoided?

Sixteen scholars on Dutch copyright have written extensive papers on distinct aspects of the Dutch Act, focussing on the characteristic elements of the Dutch Act from an international perspective, edited by Bernt Hugenholtz, Antoon Quaedvlieg and Dirk Visser. The book also contains an English translation of the Dutch Copyright Act.