Professor Marketa Trimble Publishes The EU Geo-Blocking Regulation: A Commentary
Recently, Professor Marketa Trimble published a new book on a cyberlaw-related topic called EU Geo-Blocking Regulation: A Commentary. Like federal statutes in the U.S., EU regulations are legislative acts that apply in all 27 member nations in the EU. All entities—even U.S. businesses—that offer goods and services in the EU must comply with this Regulation. Professor Trimble's book analyzes each of the provisions of the 2018 EU Geo-Blocking Regulation, including provisions on non-discriminatory access to online interfaces, goods and services, and means of payment.
In her book, she defines geo-blocking as "the practice of restricting access to Internet content based on the physical location of the user who attempts to access the content." Professor Trimble has been researching and writing about geo-blocking and legal issues surrounding geo-blocking since before 2010, while her interest in the topic began when she was a JSD candidate at Stanford Law School.
Professor Trimble explains that “with individual tailoring being prevalent on the internet nowadays, targeting based on a user’s location might seem outdated.” But she adds that “as privacy and personal data protection are becoming more and more guarded, geo-blocking presents once again an appealing method of tailoring content without having to track users’ preferences on the internet. Geo-blocking also continues to be important for market partitioning and as a way of complying with territorially-defined national laws of various jurisdictions.”
Professor Trimble’s book reveals that not all effects of geo-blocking are necessarily negative; sometimes, the use of geo-blocking supports competition on the EU market. "What was very revealing for my work were the details of the legislative process." Several disagreements among EU countries marked the negotiations of the Regulation, with the most controversial point being an exception from the Regulation for electronically supplied services concerning copyright-protected works. “This exclusion is the focus of criticism by various stakeholders and is likely to be challenged next time the EU undertakes a revision of the Regulation, and this development will certainly be of significant interest also to large U.S. copyright owners and large U.S. content providers.”
A review from The IPKat, a major international IP law blog, said of Professor Trimble's work: "This book stands out as a diligently researched exploration of the Regulation, seamlessly weaving together an impressive array of case law from diverse jurisdictions and legal fields. Its in-depth commentary, employing a distinctly interdisciplinary approach, not only clarifies the complex interactions between the Regulation and key areas of law, such as copyright and competition but also skillfully illuminates the relevant technical and economic dimensions."