Case Law, Distribution (right of), Enforcement, European Union, Exhaustion, Infringement, Jurisdiction

(Marx, Van Ranst, Vermeersch & Partners)/ /Leave a comment

“The test in case of sale could therefore be reduced to the following simple question: would there have been an infringement if the seller had been established in the Member State where the buyer resides.” On 6 February 2014, the Court of Justice of the EU issued a decision in the Blomqvist v Rolex SA…

Case Law, France, Originality, Subject matter (copyrightable)

(REALEX)/ /1 Comment

The Supreme Court maintains its position in a case concerning a Lancôme perfume, stating that ‘copyright only protects creations in their tangible form, so far as this form is identifiable with sufficient precision to permit its communication; whereas the fragrance of a perfume … is not a form that has this characteristic, and therefore cannot…

Case Law, Communication (right of), Digital Single Market, Infringement, Making available (right of)

(Institute of Intellectual Property Law, Jagiellonian University Kraków)/ /Leave a comment

The Court of Justice delivered its highly anticipated decision on linking. A breath of relief is allowed: linking seems to be legal. But when one looks a little closer, disturbing things begin to emerge. First things first. The decision in Case C‑466/12, resulting from a request for a preliminary ruling from a Swedish court (Nils…

Duration, European Union, Jurisdiction, USA

(Professor of Law at the George Washington University School of Law)/ /1 Comment

Both the US and the EU now have basic copyright terms of the life of the author plus 70 years.  But when US authors simultaneously publish in Canada, they may end up truncating their term of copyright in the EU.  Moreover, simultaneous Canadian publication decades ago could have an immediate effect on works by US…

Database right, European Union, Jurisdiction, Netherlands

(London School of Economics)/ /1 Comment

“The activity of the operator of a dedicated meta search engine (…) comes close to the manufacture of a parasitical competing product.” Christmas somewhat overshadowed the publication of a particularly interesting CJEU decision: case C-202/12 (Innoweb), dealing with the legal protection of databases in relation to meta search engines. The judgment was published on 19…

Case Law, Communication (right of), Digital Single Market, Infringement, Jurisdiction, Netherlands

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

“In that case, the publication of an hyperlink is, in principle, not an autonomous communication to the public” It is a common fact that the sex-industry, along with the arms industry,  is a driving force behind many new developments. Porn is a major force on the internet and it also shouldn’t come as a surprise…

Case Law, Italy, Jurisdiction

(Monducci Perri Spedicato & Partners)/ /Leave a comment

 “Those who take a train have to accept the risk of being identified abstractly in the crowd of passengers, as this is simply part of the ‘risks of the life’.” The Italian Supreme Court rules that, according to Article 97 of the Italian Copyright Act, the public displaying of the portrait of a person is not…

Collective management, Enforcement, Infringement, Legislative process, Liability, Switzerland

(Lenz & Staehellin, Geneva )/ /2 Comments

The Swiss working group on Copyright (AGUR12) released his report on December 2013 related to management of rights at the digital age. This should lead to a legal basis for a notice and takedown procedure and thus reduce the supply of illegal content, while downloading from illegal sources should remain legal. The original mandate goes…

Conference

(Institute for Information Law (IViR))/ /1 Comment

Although the actual founding of the Institute for Information Law is shrouded in myth and mystery, in 2014 it will be 25 years ago that IViR was officially established as a research centre at the University of Amsterdam. IViR’s 25th birthday will be celebrated next year in Amsterdam from 2 to 4 July, with a…

Germany, Infringement, Liability

(Rechtsanwalt Zimbehl)/ /5 Comments

It doesn’t  happen every day that copyright law and its daily application receive such an overwhelming media coverage. Germany’s biggest news portals, the public service broadcasters and major newspapers all reported about a case that appears to be a  routine job for a copyright lawyer. In the last two weeks a wave of cease and…