“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…
“For the ECJ, in the meaning of Article 5(3) of the Regulation 44/2001, a harmful event may arise from the possibility of obtaining a reproduction of a work from an internet site accessible within the jurisdiction of the court seised.” In its judgement Pinckney v. KDG Mediatech AG of 3 October 2013 (case C-170/12), the…
In February this year, the Czech Supreme Court ruled that a mere posting of an embedded link that links to copyright-protected material, must be regarded as a communication to the public and therewith as a direct copyright infringement. The Court was either unaware of pending cases in Luxembourg, or too impatient to wait for the…
“Civil proceedings for infringement of copyright are barred after 5 years from the day the holder of a right knew or should have known of the facts necessary to exercise his right.” In a judgement of 3 July 2013, the French Supreme Court clarifies the time limit for taking action to obtain damages for copyright…
“A young photographer, Ladislav Bielik, did what came naturally. He raised his camera and shot back.” Last week, people in Slovakia and Czech republic were commemorating the 45th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of former Czechoslovakia. In August 1968, about 500,000 Soviet troops and most of their Warsaw Pact allies invaded Czechoslovakia, with tanks to halt…
“The occasional use of an unusual expression – such as “she has a black belt in shopping, so uh …” to describe the shopping behavior of Endstra’s wife – is not enough to make a copyrighted work of an otherwise banal or trivial designed conversation.” Amsterdam Court of Appeal, 16 Juli 2013 (Endstra heirs vs….
“This ruling has direct and very important consequences on copyright deals such as database sales agreements, where personal data is sold.” In a short but very important judgement of 25 June 2013, the Cour de cassation, the French Supreme Court, has ruled that the sale of a computerized customer file is null and void if…
“In this ruling, the French Supreme Court states that the mere updating of a computer program processing personal data does not entail an obligation for the data controller to notify the data processing a second time”. Under article 22 of the French personal data Act, automatic processing of personal data must be notified to the…
“In essence, the disputes relate to the collecting societies’ intent to have intermediary suppliers pay levies on computers, printers and or plotters marketed in Germany. The suppliers, for their part, argued that some of the devices in question (namely printers and plotters) are incapable of autonomous copying.” On June 27, 2013, the CJEU delivered its…
“Before finalising its decision however, it is seeking the CJEU’s input on whether end users, who view web-pages on their computers without downloading or printing them, are committing infringements of copyright if they lack a licence from the rightholder.” On 29 June 2013 the UK Supreme Court referred a series of questions in Case C-360/13 Public…
