A full report of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law. Article L.113-3 paragraphs 1 and 2 of the French Intellectual Property Code (‘IPC’) provides that a work of collaboration shall be the joint property of its authors, and that joint authors shall exercise their rights by common consent. The decisions relating to…

The Labour Chamber of the French Supreme Court has reaffirmed that under Article L.111-1 paragraph 3 of the French Intellectual Property Code (‘IPC’), a labour agreement entered into with the author of a work shall in no way derogate from the general rule, under which the author is the first creator. Therefore, in default of…

In this case the court took the position that the non-transfer of economic copyright in a draft building plan did not constitute a breach of the contract of services for designing a construction project if this condition had not been explicitly agreed between the parties. It followed that the transfer of economic copyright must be…

The court of appeals confirmed that there had been infringement of copyright in the claimant’s photographs, and in doing so, clarified the requirements for the protection of photos as copyright works.  The court provided guidance regarding lump sum compensation as an alternative to compensation by way of direct damages. A full summary of this case…

The Supreme Administrative Court held that pursuant to § 2, para. 9 of the Law on Copyright and Related Rights (LCRR), permanent objects that represent the synthesis between architecture and other arts should be regarded as works of architecture. Under Article 12, para. 2 of the LCRR, copyright in a work of architecture, created after…

A recent judgment by the CJEU set aside a decision of the General Court annulling an OHIM decision to invalidate a Community trade mark owned by the National Lottery Commission, based on the presumed existence of an earlier copyright. The CJEU remitted the case back to the General Court for a ruling taking into account…

Echos from the Dutch legal and scientific communities indicate that opinions widely diverge on the topic of the imperative character of proposed article 25 fa) of the Dutch Copyright Act in situations bearing an international dimension. As discussed in my previous blogpost, this new provision would give authors of short works of science for which…

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the main public funding agency in the country, has been enforcing already for a few years an Open Access (OA) policy for the dissemination of the results of the research that it finances (both publications and data). The NWO does not mandate a specific form of OA: Green…

  During the recent  25th anniversary  conference of  the IViR (2-4 July in Amsterdam) many interesting lectures were given and many intriguing panel discussions were held. In the unfortunate case you missed the conference, you can find several  fotos and videos of the event on the webpage of the conference and on  IViR’s YouTube channel. Readers of…

“The law of the country where protection is sought governs all matters relating to the exercise and enjoyment of copyright, including the determination of the rights holder.” Article 5(2) of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works provides that “The enjoyment and the exercise of these rights shall not be subject…