There is no direct equivalent in EU law to the general "fair use" provisions in the US. Indeed, the US provisions are somewhat controversial, because arguably t

There is no direct equivalent in EU law to the general "fair use" provisions in the US. Indeed, the US provisions are somewhat controversial, because arguably they don't meet the requirements of the main umbrella international agreements for intellectual property. The closest equivalent in Europe would be something like the fair dealing provisions here in England and their counterparts in other member states, but those tend to enumerate specific scenarios where copying may be lawful without the permission of the copyright holder, rather than the US approach of specifying a small number of general principles and leaving it to the courts to resolve any specific case.