Zygmunt Justyna, Where is the three-step test heading for?

Almost fifty years have passed by since the enactment of the three-step test. From that time on, the three-step test has been incorporated into the most important international treaties on copyright, European Union regulations, national legislations and has been used by both European and national courts. As a result, it has become the centerpiece of all copyright limitations. Vague and susceptible to varying interpretations wording of the test is now resulting in the fact that depending on the region and country the same or almost the same wording of the three-step test is being used for different purposes. This paper surveys various jurisdictions and compares distinct applications of the three-step test in legislation and judiciary in order to show global trends and prove that the three-step test is less and less monolithic.