European Union

AG Opinion, Case Law, CJEU, Communication (right of), Digital Single Market, European Union, Infringement

(Maastricht University)/ /Leave a comment

On the 7th of April AG Wathelet issued his Opinion in the GS Media case (C-160/15). The case concerned the provision by GS Media of hyperlinks that directed users to Filefactory.com, an Australian data-storage website. Users could then click on the following link, which would open a window that contained the button “DOWNLOAD NOW”. By…

Authorship, European Union, Italy, Legislative process, Making available (right of), Netherlands, United Kingdom

(Schulich School of Law )/ /Leave a comment

A report published by the EnDOW project on the “Requirements for Diligent Search in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Italy” confirms what everyone suspected all along: the diligent search mechanism set up by the Orphan Works Directive is too cumbersome to lead to useful results. Consequently, the status of works held by cultural heritage…

Case Law, CJEU, European Union, Infringement, Remedies, Spain

(Elzaburu)/ /Leave a comment

IN CASES OF INFRINGEMENT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS, COMPENSATION FOR MORAL DAMAGES IS COMPATIBLE WITH PECUNIARY DAMAGES CALCULATED ON THE BASIS OF “HYPOTHETICAL ROYALTIES”.  Judgment of the CJEU of 17 March 2016 in Liffers, C-99/15 BACKGROUND This CJEU decision stems from legal proceedings brought in Spain by Mr. Liffers, the director, screenwriter and producer of…

European Union, Legislative process, Neighbouring rights, Subject matter (copyrightable)

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

The European Commission keeps sending us surprises. After December’s Communication on Modernizing Copyright, which contained a mixed bag of copyright goodies, we had expected just about anything but the announcement that followed on March 23rd. The European Commission has launched a public open consultation on ‘the possible extension’ of neighbouring rights to publishers. As we…

AG Opinion, Case Law, CJEU, Enforcement, European Union, Germany, Infringement, Injunction, Liability, Remedies

(CIPIL, University of Cambridge)/ /Leave a comment

On 16 March 2016 the CJEU’s Advocate General Szpunar handed down his Opinion in case C-484/14, Mc Fadden. The case concerns the liability of Tobias Mc Fadden, the owner of a business selling lighting and sound systems in Munich. Mr Mc Fadden operates a Wi-Fi hotspot on the business’ premises, deliberately left unprotected by a…

Case Law, European Union, Liability, Remedies

(CIPIL, University of Cambridge)/ /Leave a comment

On 2 February 2016, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered its first post-Delfi judgment on the liability of online service providers for the unlawful speech of others. Somewhat puzzlingly, the Court reached the opposite conclusion from that of last summer’s controversial Grand Chamber ruling, this time finding that a violation of Article 10…

Belgium, Case Law, CJEU, Collective management, European Union, Legislative process, Remuneration (equitable), Reproduction (right of)

(Marx, Van Ranst, Vermeersch & Partners)/ /Leave a comment

Case C‑572/13, HP v. Reprobel, 12 November 2015 By Philippe Laurent and Céline Wulleman, Marx Van Ranst Vermeersch & Partners As we know, Member States may adopt exceptions to the reproduction right of authors in the cases and under the conditions listed in Article 5 of Directive 2001/29. Some of those exceptions may be transposed…

Case Law, Database right, European Union, Infringement

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In response to a reference from the Bundesgerichtshof (Germany), the CJEU ruled that geographical information extracted from a topographic map by a third party in order to produce and market another map retains, following its extraction, sufficient informative value to be classified as ‘independent materials’ of a ‘database’ within the meaning of Article 1(2) of…

Case Law, European Union, Infringement, Legislative process, Netherlands, Text and Data Mining (TDM)

(Institute for Information Law)/ /1 Comment

It is beyond dispute that Anne Frank’s diary is of great historical value. A recent Dutch court decision confirms this, in a case that perfectly illustrates the tension between freedom of scientific research and the enforcement of copyright. On the 23rd of December 2015, the District Court of Amsterdam handed down its ruling in a…

Case Law, CJEU, Communication (right of), Enforcement, European Union, Infringement, Liability, Remedies

(Elzaburu)/ /Leave a comment

In response to a reference from the Brussels Court of Appeal, the CJEU held that Article 3(1) of Directive 2001/29/EC (the Infosoc Directive) must be interpreted as meaning that a broadcasting organisation does not carry out an act of “communication to the public” when it transmits its programme-carrying signals exclusively to signal distributors without those…