A wolf in sheep’s clothing: the hidden issues in Institutul G. Calinescu, Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, 2026

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued its judgment in Institutul G. Călinescu, C-649/23, following a referral from the Romanian High Court of Cassation and Justice. The case concerned copyright subsistence in the critical edition of a work in the public domain, in accordance with Article 2(a) of Directive 2001/29/EC of 22 May 2001 on the harmonization of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society [2001] OJ L167/10 (InfoSoc Directive). The judgment raises broader doctrinal concerns regarding the standards for the ‘originality’ and the ‘identifiability of an expression’ of works of textual criticism, and the possible scope of protection available to such derivative works.