In the first part of this blog, we explored the structure of formalised copyright councils, finding that efforts to ensure balance between the interests of rightsholders and users were the exception not the rule. Furthermore, it was only in a small minority of cases that the representation of research was formalised. Part 2 explores experience…
The interests of research are not necessarily heard or represented when decisions are being made about copyright laws that affect them. Both permanent and temporary consultation structures more often than not fail to ensure that there is a channel open for this. Part one of this two-part blog introduces the issues and looks at the…
In a recent decision, the UK IPEC has considered whether the format of a comedy show can be protectable as a dramatic work in copyright. The claim was brought by Joshua Rinkoff (the “Claimant”) for copyright infringement of a comedy show he wrote, produced and acted in called “Shambles”. The premise of the show was…
The government will have to pay the software developer only $150,000 for its infringement. The U.S. Navy will be required to pay just over $150,000 in damages for its installation of virtual reality software on nearly 500,000 computers without authorization, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has held. The court of appeals,…
The European Copyright Society (ECS) has published its Opinion on copyright and generative AI. The Executive Summary is reproduced below and the full Opinion is available here and here. Executive Summary The ECS considers that the current development of generative artificial intelligence (AI), under the regulatory framework set up by the Directive on Copyright…
Following the successful launch of the Information Law Series Archive in September 2024, ten more volumes have been made freely available on the IViR website. These include the groundbreaking and much-cited dissertations by Martin Senftleben on copyright and the three-step test, Mireille van Eechoud on applicable law in copyright, and Ashwin van Rooijen on software…
Part 1 of this post provided an overview of the relevant provisions of the AI Act and explored enforcement via Section 823(2) of the German Civil Code. This part 2 will look at enforcement via Section 3a of the German Act Against Unfair Competition, compare the two methods of enforcement and set out some conclusions….
The EU AI Act contains some provisions that have a copyright connection. Examples are the obligation for providers of general-purpose AI models to establish a policy to respect the rights reservation in Art. 4(3) DSM Directive 2019/790 (Art. 53(1)(c) AI Act) and their obligation to provide a sufficiently detailed summary about the content used for…
Claims arise out of publication of textbooks in electronic format. Several textbook authors, purporting to represent a class, have stated a claim for breach of contract arising out of publisher McGraw Hill LLC’s unilateral decision to cease or reduce royalties for the authors’ textbooks sold in electronic form (“ebooks”), the United States Court of Appeals…
As we enter a new year, we would like to take this opportunity to pass on our best wishes for 2025 to all of our readers, as well as reflect on developments in copyright over the past year. Last year was another busy one in the copyright world, with an increasing focus on the relationship…
