Not for the first time recently, have we seen the granting of copyright protection on a project of interior furnishing. Following the Court of Milan’s ruling which recognised copyright protection of Kiko’s concept stores, the Court of Venice was also called to pronounce – in the context of an interim proceedings – on the eligibility…
On 12 December 2018 Advocate General (AG) Szpunar delivered his Opinion in Case C-476/17, Pelham. The case concerns the practice of sampling, i.e. the reproduction of minimal parts of a phonogram for the purposes of using it in another phonogram. As harmonized by EU law, the phonogram producer holds a related right of reproduction (Article…
The resale of copyrighted digital sound recordings through a web-based “virtual” marketplace for “pre-owned” digital music operated by ReDigi Inc. was not protected from copyright infringement claims by the first sale doctrine codified in Section 109 of the Copyright Act, the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York City has held. The Second Circuit affirmed…
In a decision of 13 November 2018 concerning joined cases T 5909-17 and T 891-18 the Swedish Supreme Court, Högsta domstolen (HD), has decided to ask the CJEU whether the catalogue of acts falling within the concept of communication to the public includes the rental of cars with a standard-fitted radio integrated into the central…
The terms of the UK’s future relationship with the EU have yet to be concluded and so there is inevitably a degree of uncertainty about what Brexit ultimately means for copyright in the UK. Recent developments in parliament mean the Brexit uncertainty is higher than ever. The future relationship will really only crystallise sometime after…
The Madrid Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal filed by the owners of a figurative mark whose central element is a radiant heart, drawn using thick black lines and coloured in red, this being used by the defendants to market numerous articles and souvenirs sold in many shops in Madrid. The Court upheld the first…
Introduction AGCOM is the Italian independent and convergent regulatory authority, established in 1997 by Law no. 249/1997 as the national media regulatory body. On 16th October 2018, AGCOM approved the deliberation no. 490/18/CONS (available here) which introduces some modifications and integrations to the Regulation on copyright enforcement in electronic communications networks (“AGCOM Regulation” or simply…
In law, perhaps one of the most famous aphorisms is “I know it when I see it”, which Justice Potter Stewart used to describe his threshold test for obscenity (in Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184 (1964)). The CJEU, in case C‑310/17, delivered a decision on copyright which in a way confirms this aphorism and…
The 1976 Copyright Act did not preempt applications for attorney fees filed by two auction houses following a determination that the California Resale Royalties Act (CRRA)—a statute that grants visual artists a right to receive 5% of the proceeds on any resale of their artwork under specified circumstances—was expressly preempted by the 1976 Act with…
On 13 November 2018, the CJEU clarified the scope of EU copyright law by excluding works of taste from copyright protection. This marks the end of a three-year long dispute, which arose in 2015 between two cheese producers and was based on the idea that the taste of a food product is copyright protected. In…
