Summary

The Estonian copyright law has a remarkable history. 75 years ago, in1927, Estonia joined the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. 70 years ago, in 1932, Autorikaitse Ühing, an organisation of collective management of authors’ rights, was established. 10 years ago, in 1992, the Copyright Act drawing on the philosophy of a market economy and democratic rule of law was passed. The Copyright Act of 1992 is the first Estonian Act of all times to regulate this field. Examining the actual reasons for the great events of these past years, we can see that this history is somewhat deceptive and controversial. Therefore, the author argues that the actual history of Estonian national copyright law starts after the re-establishment of Estonia's independence in 1991.

The last ten years have proved to be the most dynamic and productive in the development of the Estonian copyright law. Such dynamic development has been influenced by both external and internal factors. The present Estonian Copyright Act has been modelled according to international standards. The completion of the reforms of the Estonian private law (primarily law of obligations) and of penal law in 2002 are the main two internal factors that have also contributed to the development of the copyright law.