This two-part blog looks at the provisions that exist in library laws across European countries concerning the building of collections and what libraries can do with them. It then assesses how far the achievement of these mandated functions is frustrated by a lack of access to eBooks. This first part introduces the issue and covers…
Regular readers of the Kluwer Copyright Blog may already be familiar with the excellent reviews of the first two rulings on the European Union’s new text and data mining (TDM) exception – one from Germany (see the Kneschke v. LAION ruling here, here and here) and one from the Netherlands (see the DPG Media v….
On the 10th of April 2025, new rules came into force as part of Elon Musk’s crackdown on impersonation accounts on X (formerly known as Twitter). Under these rules, any account that impersonates, parodies, or caricatures another comes under two requirements: first, that their username must begin with a keyword like ‘fake’ or ‘parody’; and…
Once the dust has settled after a difficult lawmaking process, commentators may succumb to the temptation of simply accepting and rubberstamping whatever result has been achieved. After all, much time and effort has been spent on developing the newly adopted rules. The legislator has spoken. It makes perfect sense to explore the full potential of…
Slightly overdue, but here comes the first roundup of 2025. The EU courts have issued just one judgment in this trimester, but to make up for it, there have been several interesting policy initiatives. As a reminder, in this post we update you on developments in EU copyright law between January and March 2025 —…
Last year we reported on the European AI Office facilitating the drawing-up of the General-Purpose AI Code of Practice (the “Code”). The first draft of the Code was published on 14 November 2024. Our article on the first draft of the Code can be found here. This blog post is to report on the updates…
In a decision of 20 February 2025 the German Federal Supreme Court (BGH) denied copyright protection as a work of applied art for two sandal designs. The ruling clarifies the scope of protection under German and EU law for works of applied art. According to the BGH, works of applied art enjoy protection if they…
The debate on the use of copyrighted material to train generative AI models is evolving, shifting its focus from whether compensation is due to creators, to determining the structure and specifics of a remuneration system. The discussion seems to be focused on a number of remuneration schemes, three of which deserve special attention. First, an…
The concept of lawfulness in relation to user status or user acts has been gradually established in EU digital copyright law as a condition for the enjoyment of certain copyright exceptions. However, the concept has proliferated inconsistently, lacking a clear normative content and shape. There is variant terminology: “lawful acquirer of a computer program” or…
Introduction It took more than three years after the deadline to implement the CDSM Directive in Poland. The new copyright law, the amended Polish Copyright and Related Rights Act of 1994, entered into force in the early autumn of 2024. Poland is the last country, after Bulgaria, to implement the CDSM Directive. During the five…
