The European Copyright Society was founded at a conference (organised by Prof. Séverine Dusollier and Prof. Bernt Hugenholtz) held at the European Parliament building in Brussels on January 13, 2012.

The European Copyright Society was initiated by Professor Lionel Bently, Director of the Centre of Intellectual Property and Information Law (CIPIL), University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), Professor Séverine Dusollier, Director of the Centre de recherche information, droit et société (CRIDS), University of Namur (Belgium), Professor Reto M. Hilty, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, Munich (Germany), Professor P. Bernt Hugenholtz, Director of the Institute for Information Law, University of Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Christophe Geiger, Director General and Director of the Research Department, Centre d’Etudes Internationales de la Propriété Intellectuelle (CEIPI), University of Strasbourg (France), who are its founding members.

The first annual meeting was held in Barcelona in May 2014.

The second annual meeting was held in Obernai on May 23, 2015.

The third annual meeting was held in Barcelona on May 21, 2016.

The fourth annual meeting took place in Paris on May 13, 2017.

The fifth annual meeting was held in Brussels on May 26, 2018.

The sixth annual meeting was held in Oslo on May 25, 2019.

The seventh annual meeting was held online on May 15, 2020, instead of in Karlsruhe (as initially planned), due to the travel restrictions resulting from the Covid-19.

The eight annual meeting was held online on May 21, 2021.

The ninth annual meeting was held in Nottingham on May 28, 2022.

The tenth annual meeting was held in Leuven on May 28, 2022.