European Union

AG Opinion, Case Law, CJEU, European Union, Exceptions and Limitations, Germany, Originality, Subject matter (copyrightable)

(University College Dublin)/ /Leave a comment

The relation between freedom of expression and copyright in the EU is one of imprecision and uncertainty. In Funke Medien (Case C-469/17) the German Federal Supreme Court (BGH) asks whether fundamental rights should permit the unauthorized use of military reports in the absence of an applicable copyright exception. In his Opinion, Advocate General (AG) Szpunar…

AG Opinion, Case Law, CJEU, Distribution (right of), European Union, Infringement, Sweden

(University College Dublin)/ /Leave a comment

The right of distribution is the least controversial of the three exclusive rights contained in the Information Society Directive (InfoSoc Directive). Yet, every now and then the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is asked to re-examine its scope. With far less interpretative imagination compared with the right of communication to the public,…

CJEU, Communication (right of), Digital Single Market, European Union, Originality

(University of Cyprus)/ /Leave a comment

The delimitation of the proper boundaries of lawful use of copyright-protected works on the Internet has always been puzzling for courts, which in some instances have creatively interpreted the copyright acquis in order to take account of the particularities of the digital ecosystem. In this context, the CJEU in Usedsoft (C-128/11) adopted for the first…

Conference, European Union, Legislative process, Moral rights, Originality, Ownership

(Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition) and (Institute for Information Law (IViR))/ /Leave a comment

In May, the ECS held their annual summit in Brussels, under the title “EU copyright, quo vadis? From the EU copyright package to the challenges of Artificial Intelligence.” The summit covered many of the hot topics on today’s copyright agenda, including the proposed directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. This post, however, focuses…

AG Opinion, Case Law, CJEU, European Union, Originality, Subject matter (copyrightable)

(IViR)/ /2 Comments

25 July 2018 marks a new episode in the Heks’nkaas saga. After tumultuous court proceedings at the national level and before the European Court of Justice, Advocate General M. Wathelet delivered his opinion in this controversial copyright dispute that is now pending before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). His opinion can…

CJEU, Communication (right of), Digital Single Market, European Union, Legislative process, Liability

(Franklin Pierce Center for IP, Univ. of NH)/ /1 Comment

In the run-up to the Plenary vote of the European Parliament in June and again currently, some academics and other voices have criticized the JURI Committee Report especially on Article 13 of the Proposal for a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. Among others, they purport that these proposals would contravene the acquis…

Digital Single Market, Enforcement, European Union, Infringement, Legislative process, Liability, Remedies

(CIPIL, University of Cambridge) and (Institute for Information Law (IViR))/ /Leave a comment

1. Introduction In September 2016, the European Commission published its proposal for a new Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, including its controversial draft Article 13. The main driver behind this provision is what has become known as the ‘value gap’, i.e. the alleged mismatch between the value that online sharing platforms extract…

European Union, Infringement, Legislative process, Liability, Remedies

(University of Amsterdam (IViR))/ /Leave a comment

As the endgame for the negotiations on the long-awaited new European Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market is finally on, the debate focuses very much on article 13 of the proposed directive. A lot has been published already about the consequences of this proposal for the future of ‘the-internet-as-we-know-it’, but what are its…

Case Law, Enforcement, European Union, Reimbursement, Remedies, United Kingdom

(London School of Economics)/ /Leave a comment

Internet access providers should be compensated for website blocking requested by IP right owners. In a nutshell, this is what the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled back in June. The entire saga, however, has much wider implications and should be properly considered beyond the UK borders. Background The Cartier case arose from a…