This article focuses on upcycled products from two different copyright perspectives: first, it considers the extent to which – if any – such goods could be regarded as infringing of third-party rights; second, it addresses the question of protection under EU law. To this end, it reviews available case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on copyright’s exclusive rights and subsistence requirements and provides a reasoned and critical review of the potential treatment of upcycled objects under EU law. 

 The main conclusions are as follows. Insofar as infringement aspects are concerned, the right of reproduction under copyright is likely to play a very minor role (if any at all) in determining potential liability of upcyclers: the main exclusive right that will serve to establish upcyclers’ liability is rather the right of distribution and its lack of exhaustion under EU law. Turning to the protectability of upcycled objects, as long as upcyclers make free and creative choices in repurposing existing objects, they may enjoy a ‘new’ copyright in their own works, with such protection being detached from and independent of any potential liability considerations.