In this new series we will be updating readers every three months on developments in EU copyright law. This will include Court of Justice (CJEU) and General Court judgments, Advocate Generals’ (AG) opinions, and important policy developments.   The end of 2020 Since this is the first issue of our round up, we have also…

Interest in eSports (‘electronic sports’ or competitive video gaming) has accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. With many traditional face-to-face sports suspended, eSports have become an attractive viable competitor for self-isolating new and existing fans alike. With no geographic discrimination, an all-digital medium and even ‘anyone allowed to play’ tournament models, eSports is now a nascent…

Summary The IPEC has held than an employee produced software in the course of his employment, despite his claims he did most of his work in his own time, at home, and on a personal computer. In the decision, Penhallurick v MD5 Limited [2021] EWHC 293 (IPEC), Hacon J suggested that such factors did not…

The relative contribution of a joint author is a factually complicated and difficult matter to assess. The re-trial of Martin and another v Kogan [2021] EWHC 24 (Ch) confirmed this to be the case. We have previously written about this authorship dispute regarding the film Florence Foster Jenkins [here] and [here]. In this post, we…

Introduction The impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on intellectual property (IP) law undoubtedly ranks as one of the most-discussed topics of 2020 among legal academics and practitioners (including on this blog). Following initiatives at WIPO, the EPO and several national IPOs (including the UKIPO and the USPTO), EU institutions have now also become active in…

Copyright is an engine for knowledge. Although copyright creates monopolies, it should not be considered as a good in itself, but as a tool which can be used to achieve societally desirable objectives. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a non-traditional 5-4 vote, did just that when – on 20 April 2020, in Georgia vs. Public.Resource.org…

Blockchain is certainly a hot topic. For creative industries, Blockchain has the potential to improve licensing of rights as well as tracking of infringements. It also has potential in arts funding. Some artists and art organizations have already tried to tokenize art works and artists in order to attract crowd funding. The online platform Maecenas…

In a highly unusual move, the Court of Appeal has set aside the first instance judgment in Nicholas Martin v Julia Kogan [2017] EWHC 2927 and ordered that a new trial take place in the IPEC, but this time before a different judge. In its judgment, Julia Kogan v Nicholas Martin & others, [2019] EWCA…

Using newer forms of Artificial Intelligence (AI), including General Adversarial Networks (GANs), AI machines are increasingly good at emulating humans and laying siege to what has been a strictly human outpost: intellectual creativity. AI machines have composed polyphonic baroque music bearing the “style” of J.S. Bach. “Robot reporters” routinely write news bulletins and sports reports,…

A software development company was held to own the copyright in source code authored by its sole programmer on the basis that the relationship between the parties was one of employer and employee. Case date: 30 July 2018 Case number: [2018] EWHC 1924 (Ch) Court: High Court of Justice of England and Wales, Chancery Division A…