Digital Single Market, Enforcement, European Union, Infringement, Legislative process, Liability, Remedies

(CIPIL, University of Cambridge) and (Institute for Information Law (IViR))/ /Leave a comment

1. Introduction In September 2016, the European Commission published its proposal for a new Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, including its controversial draft Article 13. The main driver behind this provision is what has become known as the ‘value gap’, i.e. the alleged mismatch between the value that online sharing platforms extract…

European Union, Infringement

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The percentage of Internet users in Europe that occasionally download or stream music, films, series, books or games illegally has decreased between 2014 and 2017. The decrease is greatest for music, films and series. Meanwhile, expenditure on legal content has increased since 2014. This follows from the Global Online Piracy Study that the Institute for…

Case Law, CJEU, Communication (right of), European Union, Infringement, Italy, Liability

(Institute for Information Law (IViR)) and (Universidade Católica Portuguesa)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction and background Case C-265/16, VCAST, concerns the question of whether the private copying exception covers the services of an online platform that allows users to store copies of free-to-air TV programmes in private cloud storage spaces. In his opinion of 7 September 2017 (discussed here), Advocate General (AG) Szpunar proposed a mixed answer to…

AG Opinion, Case Law, CJEU, Communication (right of), European Union, Exceptions and Limitations, Infringement, Private copying

(Institute for Information Law (IViR)) and (Universidade Católica Portuguesa)/ /Leave a comment

On 7 September 2017, AG Szpunar delivered his opinion on Case C-265/16, VCAST. The case concerns the question of whether the private copying exception covers the services of an online platform that allows users to store copies of free-to-air TV programmes in private cloud storage spaces. AG Szpunar’s proposed answer was a mixed one: while…

Conference, European Union

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  On the 5 July 2017, the Institute for Information Law (IViR) of the University of Amsterdam organized its ‘Blockchain and Copyright Symposium’. For a brief introduction to this symposium and the topic, see our previous post. The symposium was divided into two parts. In the first part, following an introduction by IViR senior researcher…

Conference, European Union, Netherlands, Remedies, Software

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

Blockchain technology seems to be all the rage nowadays. In simple terms, blockchain enables parties who do not know or trust each other to maintain a common set of records without the need for a trusted third party intermediary. Bitcoin, the first major successful cryptocurrency, uses blockchain to keep track of the supply and flow…

Case Law, CJEU, European Union, Exceptions and Limitations, Italy, Private copying, Remuneration (equitable)

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Background, Facts, and Questions On 22 September 2016 the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’ or ‘Court’) ruled on Case C-110/15 – Microsoft Mobile Sales International and others. (The case was formerly known as Nokia Italia and Others before Nokia Italia SpA changed its name to Microsoft Mobile Sales International Oy.) This is yet…

Case Law, Collective management, European Union, Exceptions and Limitations, Liability, Private copying, Remuneration (equitable), Spain

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1                Background, facts and questions On 9 June 2016 the CJEU ruled on Case C-470/14 – EGEDA and Others (‘EGEDA’). This marks the tenth occasion on which the Court has ruled on the private copying exception or limitation in Article 5(2)(b) of Directive 2001/29/EC (the ‘InfoSoc Directive’) after Padawan, Stichting de Thuiskopie, Luksan, VG Wort,…

Collective management, European Union, Exceptions and Limitations, Making available (right of), Netherlands, Private copying, Reproduction (right of)

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Since 2012 a multidisciplinary research group at the Institute for Information Law (IViR), University of Amsterdam has been conducting a large-scale empirical study of Alternative Compensation Systems (ACS). In simple terms, ACS are legal mechanisms that for a small monthly fee would authorize non-commercial online uses by individuals, including the downloading and sharing of protected…

Case Law, CJEU, European Union, Private copying, Technological measures

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On March 5, 2015 the Court of Justice of the European Union (the ‘Court’ or ‘CJEU’) ruled on Case C-463/12 Copydan Båndkopi v Nokia Danmark A/S (‘Copydan’). The case marks the seventh occasion on which the Court has ruled on the issue of the private copying limitation under art. 5(2)(b) Directive 2001/29/EC (the ‘Directive’), following…