The global research community generates over 1.5 million new scholarly articles per year. Text and data mining (TDM) enables individuals to analyse such large amounts of data, to categorise that data, and to unravel the underlying patterns in order to attain new knowledge, and to create new databases. That being said, utilisation of TDM in…

On 27 February 2018, the European Union (EU) adopted the EU geo-blocking regulation (the Regulation), which will enter into force by the end of the year. The Regulation prohibits unjustified geo-blocking, and other forms of discrimination, based on customers’ nationality, place of residence, or place of establishment. The Regulation is particularly relevant to all businesses…

On 14 September 2016, a proposal for a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market saw the light of day. The proposal is part of the EU copyright reform package, which has as its objective to modernise EU Copyright rules for the digital age, thereby attaining the objectives set out earlier in the Digital…

The draft Brexit Withdrawal Agreement between the EU and the UK, which was published by the European Commission on 28 February 2018, provides for continued protection in the UK of registered or granted IP rights. According to article 50 (1) of the draft agreement, the holder of a EU trade mark, design or plant variety right,…

In an in-depth analysis for the European Parliament, the author has looked at liability of online service providers with regard to infringements concerning copyright protected content. In particular, the paper tries to answer the question of whether regulatory action is needed in relation to the liability of online service providers for copyright protected content. The…

During the last decade, Australia has seen a number of copyright reviews that have recommended various copyright reforms, some more extensive than others. To mention some of the most important: in 2014, the Australia Law Reform Commission recommended the adoption of fair use into Australian copyright law. In 2016, the Productivity Commission’s Report on Intellectual…

Introduction On 30 June 2017, the German “Bundestag” adopted the “Act to Align Copyright Law with the Current Demands of the Knowledge-based Society” (“Urheberrechts-Wissensgesellschafts-Gesetz- UrhWissG”). It essentially reforms the terms of use of copyright protected works in the fields of education and research and will come into force on 1 March 2018. This new Act…

As we enter a new year, we would like to take this opportunity to pass on our best wishes for 2018 to all of our readers, as well as reflect on developments in copyright over the past year.  Last year was a busy one in the copyright world, with a number of landmark CJEU decisions,…

Introduction On 30th June 2017, the EU approved Regulation 2017/1128/EU on the cross-border portability of online content services (OJEU 30.6.17 L168) (the “Regulation”). The new Regulation introduces to the EU copyright framework the right for users to access portable services to which they have subscribed in one Member State when they are temporarily resident in another…

It’s been almost two years since the Slovak legislator introduced an improved legal framework by adoption of a completely new Slovak Copyright Act. The main aim of the legislation was to introduce modern and flexible legal rules ensuring, on the one hand, that authors have more effective means to control the use of their works…