The French Act No. 2012-287 of 1 March 2012 ‘on the digital exploitation of unavailable books of the twentieth century’ created a specific compulsory collective management system for out-of-commerce books, in Articles L.134-1 to L.134-9 French intellectual property Code (‘IPC’). These new provisions were intended to allow the digitisation and reissuing of books that are…

Decision Landgericht (District Court) Hamburg of November 18, 2016 (file no. 310 O 402/16) Introduction In GS Media vs. Sanoma, the CJEU recently ruled that linking to illegal content may be considered to be a “communication to the public” and can therefore constitute copyright infringement (C-160/15 of 8 September 2016). The District Court Hamburg has…

2016 was a busy year for European copyright law. Unsurprisingly, Brexit and its potential impact on copyright in Europe and the UK was one of the most popular topics on the Kluwer Copyright Blog. Other hot topics included the much-anticipated CJEU judgment in the GS Media case and the ongoing EU copyright reform.  We provide a countdown below…

From August 8th to September 22nd 2016, the Colombian Ministry of Commerce made a public call for comments on a draft reform of the current copyright legislation. A key change that this proposal could have included was conspicuous by its absence: the parody exception. Colombian civil society has advocated for a change to this. The…

The Latvian Supreme Court has recently ruled on the determination of pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages for copyright infringement in a case where the copyright works had been used for informatory purposes. Case No. SKC-[B]/2016 was adjudicated in a closed hearing, as a result of which the number of the case file and the date of…

In Phonographic Performance Ltd v Hagan & Ors (t/a Lower Ground Bar and the Brent Tavern) [2016] EWHC 3076 (IPEC) HHJ Hacon considered the interplay of s.97(2) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA) and art.13(1) of Directive 2004/48/EC on the enforcement of intellectual property rights (the Enforcement Directive) when awarding additional damages…

A full report of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law. The Spanish Supreme Court annulled some of the rules regulating the system of financing fair compensation for private copying through the General State Budget on the grounds that they are incompatible with EU law.  The system that had been in place until…

The federal district court in Philadelphia did not err in dismissing copyright infringement claims brought by Daniel Marino, against popular musician Usher—Marino’s co-creators of the song Club Girl—and several music industry entities, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia has decided. Furthermore, Marino’s attorney, Francis Malofiy, was properly sanctioned by the lower court for contacting…

Recent developments on portability On November 28th 2016 the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights and Copyright Reform established by the Committee on Legal Affairs of the European Parliament issued a Report with possible amendments to the European Commission’s draft Proposal for a Regulation on ensuring the cross-border portability of online content services in the…

The American Vimeo case, decided on June 16, 2016, broadens the exemption for internet service providers (ISPs) in cases of copyright infringement by platform users. Meanwhile, the European Union seeks a narrower approach to excluding ISPs from liability. How do the two approaches differ? The Vimeo case The Vimeo case concerned a collective claim by…