Exhaustion refers to one of the limits of intellectual property (IP) rights, such as copyright. Once a product covered by an IP right has been marketed by the right owner or by others with the consent of the owner, the IP rights of commercial exploitation over this given product are said to be exhausted and can no longer be exercised by the owner.
In its groundbreaking judgment of 4 October 2011 the Court of Justice of the European Union has essentially legalized the import, sale and use of foreign satellite television decoder cards. The judgment, which was given in two joined (originally British) cases, concerned decoder cards that provide access to encrypted satellite transmissions from Greece of British…
The question, whether software licences for computer programs that were purchased in an intangible form (via download from the sellers’ server) can be resold by the first acquirer and used by the second buyer without consent of the right holder, has to be interpreted in light of the computer program directive 2009/24/EG. A full summary…
Paintings that were abandoned and left in a loft were not subject to free utilization. The copyright in the paintings was thus not exhausted. A summary of this case will be posted on http://www.KluwerIPCases.com
The football leagues in Europe seem to be on a losing streak in Luxembourg. On February 17 the European Court of Justice pronounced that Member States may reserve television coverage of FIFA World Cup events to free-to-air public broadcasters, on the basis of nationally drawn-up lists of ‘events of major importance’, as defined in the…
