The UK electorate’s vote to leave the European Union has been perceived as a bolt from the blue. After the initial shock, the potential legal and business implications of Brexit have been widely discussed. In the field of IP, the main concern has been to predict how UK IP business and law will be affected….

In this decision, the CJEU tackled an international jurisdiction issue, since what was essentially under debate in the main proceedings was the applicability of Article 5(3) of Regulation 44/2001 on jurisdiction in civil and commercial matters, which enables, in matters relating to tort, delict or quasi-delict, persons domiciled in one Member State to be sued…

The CJEU has recently ruled on yet another case seeking to determine the meaning of ‘communication to the public’, this time in the context of broadcasting television to patients in a rehabilitation centre (Reha Training Gesellschaft für Sport- und Unfallrehabilitation mbH v Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte (GEMA), C-117/15). Readers will be aware…

1                Background, facts and questions On 9 June 2016 the CJEU ruled on Case C-470/14 – EGEDA and Others (‘EGEDA’). This marks the tenth occasion on which the Court has ruled on the private copying exception or limitation in Article 5(2)(b) of Directive 2001/29/EC (the ‘InfoSoc Directive’) after Padawan, Stichting de Thuiskopie, Luksan, VG Wort,…

The question referred to the CJEU in the Austro-Mechana case (C-572/14) was whether a claim for payment of fair compensation for private copying, as per Article 5(2)(b) of Directive 2001/29, can be considered to be a matter relating to tort, delict or quasi-delict and, therefore, whether Article 5(3) of Regulation 44/2001 on jurisdiction in civil…

There are just three days to go until the European Commission’s public consultation on “the role of publishers in the copyright value chain” closes and those who have not yet responded to the consultation should consider doing so. Although the Commission’s explanatory statement hardly makes this clear, it is considering a legislative initiative that could…

On 4th May 2016, the European Commission published its Full report on the public consultation on the review of the EU Satellite and Cable Directive. The consultation, which was held from 24 August until 16 November 2015, focused on two main issues. First, the assessment of the current rules and, second, the possibility of the…

1. Introduction The internet has been a challenge for copyright since its advent two decades ago. Many questions have now been answered. It is surprising, however, that one of the main internet technologies, hyperlinking, is still the subject of hotly debated issues under EU copyright law, which the CJEU has yet to answer. 2. Linking…

Could copyright put an end to the challenges the news industry faces while it tries to manage its position on the Internet? This question lay at the heart of the conference “Copyright, Related Rights and the news”, organised by the Institute for Information Law in collaboration with CIPIL on April 23, 2016. Threats faced by…

Our era is the era of ‘Big Data’. The proliferation of data that we have experienced in recent years is unprecedented, and its volume only grows. Some numbers: we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day and 90% of the data in today’s world has been created in the last two years. The volume…