Fundamental Rights are the constants in many constitutional orders. They provide stability, continuity in values and encapsulate the normative skeleton of a society. Especially in times of change, they serve as guiding principles for citizens, governments and, if push comes to shove, the judiciary. Amongst the many examples in which fundamental rights have demonstrated their…
At the beginning of 2021, half a year before the implementation deadline of the DSM directive, only a single EU member state (the Netherlands) had passed a full implementation of the DSM directive. By the date of the implementation deadline a mere three Member States had fully implemented the directive, and by the end of…
At the end of 2021, YouTube’s first Copyright Transparency Report 2021 (“Report”) was published. It is interesting to look at this Report against the background of the 2019 EU rules for the liability of platforms like YouTube through the famous Art. 17 DSM Directive 2019/790 (“DSMD”). But first let’s take a look at Mars (the…
On 15 December 2020, the European Commission submitted a proposal for a Regulation on a Single Market For Digital Services (Digital Services Act, DSA) and amending Directive 2000/31/EC. In November 2021, the Council of the European Union reached agreement on an amended version of this proposal, and on 20 December 2021, the European Parliament’s Committee…
As we enter a new year, we would like to take this opportunity to pass on our best wishes for 2022 to all of our readers, as well as reflect on developments in copyright over the past year. Despite its challenges, last year was another busy one in the copyright world, with ongoing European copyright…
Act no. 2021-1382 of 25 October 2021 on the regulation and protection of access to cultural works in the digital age has been published in the Official Journal. It modifies the French Intellectual Property Code (‘IPC’). The Act creates ‘ARCOM’ (the Authority for the regulation of audiovisual and digital communication), a new regulatory authority with…
This post is based on the chapter “Audiovisual Coverage of Sports Events and Copyright Law: Originality in the Details?” in Natalie Helberger, Joost Poort, Martin Senftleben, Mireille van Eechoud, Stef van Gompel (eds.). Intellectual Property and Sports: Essays in Honour of P. Bernt Hugenholtz, Kluwer Law International, 2021. The principle of non-protection of football matches…
This post is based on the chapter “Audiovisual Coverage of Sports Events and Copyright Law: Originality in the Details?” in Natalie Helberger, Joost Poort, Martin Senftleben, Mireille van Eechoud, Stef van Gompel (eds.). Intellectual Property and Sports: Essays in Honour of P. Bernt Hugenholtz, Kluwer Law International, 2021. The economic value of football broadcasting has…
A reasonable jury could find the design for children’s pajamas with the phrase “i love you” repeated in italics to be substantially similar to Target’s products with the same phrase and design. In a copyright infringement suit brought by a children’s clothing company against retailer Target Corporation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth…
The European Audiovisual Observatory (“EAO”) has recently published the Mapping report on national remedies against online piracy of sports content (“Report”), conducted at the request of the European Commission. Through a comparative perspective, the Report examines the scope of protection of audiovisual sports content in the national framework of the 27 EU member states and…
