Austria

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Digital Single Market, European Union, France, Germany, Netherlands, Remuneration (equitable)

(Institute for Information Law (IViR))/ /Leave a comment

The European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities (ALLEA) has for many years supported the move away from proprietary models of scholarly publishing towards Open Access (OA).[1] ALLEA, therefore, welcomes the recognition in the laws of an increasing number of European countries of so-called ‘Secondary Publication Rights’ (SPRs) that allow publicly funded researchers to…

Austria, Case Law, Exceptions and Limitations, Infringement

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The Robber Hotzenplotz is the title of a book series for children, written by Ottfried Preußler. The figure of robber Hotzenplotz is characterized on the book cover by a huge black hat, a red band and a feather.   A political party incorporated the face of the Austrian city’s mayor into the drawing of robber…

Austria, Case Law, Infringement, Originality

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The Austrian Supreme Court (hereinafter: “ASC”) ruled on 19th of December 2023 (4 Ob 112/23h) in a case concerning the 2019 film “Yesterday”. The Plaintiff alleged that the film infringed its copyright in a short screenplay idea published in 2011. The First Defendant distributes the film “Yesterday” to Austrian cinemas. The Second Defendant is responsible…

Austria, CJEU, European Union, Infringement, Private copying, Remuneration (equitable)

(Johannes Kepler University Linz / University for Continuing Education Krems)/ /Leave a comment

Despite the increasing use of streaming services, where media content is not stored on local devices, but merely accessed online, the private copying exception (Art 5(2)(b) InfoSoc Directive) remains at the center of European jurisprudence.  In the Austro-Mechana v. Strato case, the Austrian courts have to decide whether the remuneration for private copying must also be…

Austria, Case Law, CJEU, Communication (right of)

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In April 2021, the Austrian Supreme Court referred two questions of principle to the CJEU concerning the activity of a satellite TV package provider (Austrian Supreme Court, 4Ob195/20k). On 22 September 2022, the Advocate General provided his opinion on the case. The questions referred can be summarised as follows: Is Article 1(2)(b) of the Satellite…

Austria, Case Law, CJEU, Exceptions and Limitations, Infringement, Liability

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The Austrian Supreme Court held that YouTube – as a host service provider – was not responsible for copyright infringements by its users as long as it was not put on notice of the infringements (17. 9. 2021, 4 Ob 132/21x). For monetizing uploaded videos, the uploading user has to confirm that they have read…

Austria, Infringement, Jurisdiction, Remuneration (equitable)

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Although the legal consequences of infringement of different IP rights (e.g. copyright, trademarks and patents) are in principle identically regulated in Austria by the corresponding laws, the requirements for protection and acts of exploitation reserved to the proprietor, which are adapted to the market conditions, are fundamentally different depending on the type of IP right….

Austria, Case Law, CJEU, European Union, Infringement, Liability

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ORF/Facebook – First follow up ruling after CJEU C18/18 – Glawischnig/Facebook First, a little bit of history. Back in 2016, a Facebook post containing an article with a photograph of the former Austrian politician Eva Glawischnig gave rise to a landmark decision against Facebook. Alongside a photo of Ms Glawischnig, she was referred to as,…

Austria, Case Law, Enforcement, Exceptions and Limitations, Infringement, Liability

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On Valentine’s Day, the Higher Regional Court of Vienna (docket no 4 R 119/18a) issued a judgment on a complaint by the Austrian broadcasting company Puls 4 against YouTube, predating the much-discussed Article 17 (formerly known as Article 13) of the Copyright Directive. The petition requested aimed to prevent YouTube from making available videos containing…