Case Law

Case Law, CJEU, European Union, France

(REALEX)/ /Leave a comment

In its jugment of 30 April 2024 (C-470/21), the Court of Justice of the European Union answered three questions referred by the French Administrative Supreme Court (‘Conseil d’Etat’), that can be summed up as follows: must Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58 on privacy and electronic communications be interpreted as precluding national legislation which authorises the…

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Authorship, Case Law, China, Liability

(Potter Clarkson LLP and King's College London)/ /Leave a comment

The effect of rapid development of generative AI on copyright law continues to challenge the lawmakers and courts. Whilst the UK High Court is yet to reach its decision on liability for copyright infringement in the AI training data in Getty Images v Stability AI, the Chinese case of Ultraman became the first to recognise…

Case Law, Ownership, USA

(Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory US)/ /Leave a comment

Case arises out of dispute over the estate of noted evangelical minister Dr. Lester Sumrall. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago has affirmed the dismissal of claims for copyright ownership brought by a trust asserting the rights of a son of the late evangelical pastor Dr. Lester Sumrall, finding those claims were barred…

Case Law, CJEU, European Union, Exceptions and Limitations, Private copying

(Institute for Information Law (IViR))/ /Leave a comment

In November 2023, the CJEU cast light on the right to fair compensation under the private copying exception harmonised by Article 5(2)(b) InfoSoc Directive and the thorny issue of whether broadcasters are entitled to it. This post considers this judgment. The big question is whether there’s anything more to this seemingly mechanical judgment from the…

Case Law, CJEU, European Union, Software

(Jagiellonian University in Kraków)/ /Leave a comment

How did we get here? Case C-159/23 Sony Computer Entertainment Europe revolves around the scope of protection of computer programs under the 2009 Software Directive. The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) will respond to two preliminary questions posed by the German Supreme Court. The detailed background of the case was discussed in a…

Case Law, Communication (right of), European Union, Round-up, Software

(University College London) and (Institute for Information Law (IViR))/ /Leave a comment

Welcome to the second trimester of the 2024 roundup of EU copyright law right in time before the (hopefully) quiet summer period starts. In this edition, we update you on what has happened between March and June 2024 in EU copyright law. As our regular readers know, this roundup series includes Court of Justice (CJEU)…

Case Law, Software, USA

(Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory)/ /Leave a comment

The testimony was properly excluded—and without it, the software company could not prevail on its copyright claims. A Detroit federal court correctly found that a software designer moved too late to introduce expert testimony supporting the copyrightability of its source code, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has held. The court, in…

Case Law, New Zealand, Ownership

(Family Dispute Resolution Centre (Te Pokapū Whakatau Tautohe ā Whānau))/ /1 Comment

In February 2024, the Court of Appeal in New Zealand (the Court) issued a judgment on a long-running matter between a separating couple looking to sort out their property. The appellant, Ms Alalääkkölä, was an artist who had created copyrighted works throughout her career. Her former spouse, Mr Palmer, argued that the copyright in those…

Case Law, CJEU, Collective management, European Union

(Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna) and (Università La Sapienza, Roma)/ /Leave a comment

On 21 March 2024, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued its ruling in case C-10/22 Liberi Autori ed Editori (LEA) v. Jamendo SA. The decision confirms that Independent Management Entities (“IMEs”) can provide their copyright management services in the European Union (EU) alongside Collective Management Organizations (“CMOs”). National legislation in one…

Case Law, Originality, Subject matter (copyrightable), United Kingdom

, (Bristows LLP)/ /Leave a comment

In July 2023, the Court of Appeal in Wright & Ors v BTC Core & Ors [2023] EWCA Civ 868. overturned the High Court decision in which Mr Justice Mellor found that the Bitcoin File Format (the “BFF”) was not a protectable work in a copyright sense as it did not satisfy the fixation requirement…