Two contradictory legislative proposals have been quite recently submitted for discussion at the Belgian Parliament, which should implement solutions to the thorny file-sharing issue. On the one hand, Senators Morael and Pyryns proposed on 9 December 2010 [Doc 5-590/1] a law “aiming at adapting the perception of copyright to the technological evolution while preserving privacy…

In four recent decisions (respectively relating to the movies “le génocide arménien”; “l’affaire Clearstream”; “les dissimulateurs” and “Mondovino”), the Paris Court of Appeal held Google liable for copyright infringement. The facts of the different cases are similar: an Internet user had placed an unauthorized copy of a movie on Google Video. Following the procedure set…

The variation of the Austrian National Anthem by setting it to a modernised “rock-version” of the classic tune and by changing the line “You are home to great sons” to “You are home to great sons and daughters” for use in an information campaign by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture, does…

The defendant, the so-called “cooperative of CD co-owners”, abuses the ‘personal use’ exeption under Article 30 of Copyright, together with the three-step-test under Article 29(1) of Copyright Act, while he operates as a covert form of lending company (see previously reported cases concerning cooperatives of CD co-owners, in Kluwer database). The court, as in previous…

Survey:
HADOPI, cultural goods and Internet use: The French users’ practices and perceptions (“Hadopi, biens culturels et usages d’Internet: pratiques et perceptions des internautes français”), presented on 23 January 2011 at the MIDEM (Marché International du Disque et de l’Edition Musicale- International Market for Records and Musical Edition): http://www.hadopi.fr/download/hadopiT0.pdf
Press

Press releases:
Etude de la HADOPI sur le téléchargement: des chiffres providentiels, ZDNet.fr
http://www.zdnet.fr/actualites/etude-de-la-hadopi-sur-le-telechargement-des-chiffres-providentiels-39757755.htm

Midem: un internaute français sur deux pirate, La Tribune.fr
http://www.latribune.fr/technos-medias/medias/20110123trib000594860/midem-un-internaute-francais-sur-deux-pirate-.html

Selon une étude de l’HADOPI, 49% des internautes ont eu recours “au moins une fois à un usage illicite de biens culturels”, Le Monde.fr, Blogs
http://midem.blog.lemonde.fr/2011/01/24/selon-une-etude-de-l%E2%80%99hadopi-49-des-internautes-ont-eu-recours-%C2%AB-au-moins-une-fois-a-un-usage-illicite-de-biens-culturels-%C2%BB/

Italy is currently being interested by an intense querelle about the role of the Communications Authority (“Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni”) in the enforcement of the provisions of Law n. 633/1941 (“Copyright Law”) with respect to users’ unauthorized posting of copyrighted contents online. The debate has become particularly hot after the Communications Authority has…

A Belgian band uploaded some songs on a freely accessible website under a non-commercial & no derivative Creative Commons licence. A Belgian theatre used one of the songs to create an advertisement for the next theatrical season, which was broadcasted on several national radios channels. The Court found that the theatre did not respect the…

This is the first Greek copyright case about the liability for provision of links to works and other protected subject matter which have been uploaded to Internet without authorization. In the leading decision 965/2010, the three-member Misdemeanours Court of Kilkis was called to examine whether a website providing links to various contents posted in the…

On 15 February 2011, the Spanish Parliament adopted the Ley de Economía Sostenible (Sustainable Economy Act). This act aims at turning Spain’s economic model into a more sustainable one from not only a economic but also social and environmental point of view. Among many other issues, this act includes some very controversial provisions amending three…