Exceptions and Limitations to copyright are provisions which allow for works protected by copyright to be used in specific situations without a licence from the copyright owner. There are numerous limitations and exceptions found in copyright legislation including, for example, the fair use exception, exceptions for libraries, archives and educational institutions, and the back-up copy exception.
Welcome back to Part II of the analysis of AG Emiliou’s Opinion in C-590/23 Pelham II. In Part I (here), we analysed the interpretation of pastiche as an autonomous concept of EU law, along with its defining features. In this Part II, we turn to the balancing of fundamental rights. Here, the AG ventures into…
The long-awaited opinion of Advocate-General (AG) Emiliou in C-590/23 Pelham, the enduring dispute between the electronic music group Kraftwerk against hip-hop producers, and their production company Pelham GmbH, has now been published. For those who had not been following the developments, the case has once again reached the Bundesgerichtshof (BGH), Germany’s Federal Court of Justice,…
In an age where digital access defines education, research, and participation, European libraries face serious legal and technical barriers to lending electronic books. Despite the digital shift, outdated or restrictive interpretations of copyright law often prevent libraries from fulfilling their public mission online. A new report led by the Future Law Lab at Jagiellonian University…
In an era where digital access to knowledge shapes the frontiers of education, research, and participation, European libraries face significant legal and technical obstacles in lending electronic books. While the shift from paper to digital is well underway in many sectors, libraries — long seen as guardians of knowledge and enablers of equal access —…
The debate on whether works protected by copyright can be used for the training of artificial intelligence (AI) has reached India. While dozens of US District Courts are currently grappling with the question of whether AI training with protected works constitutes fair use, the UK High Court is largely grappling with jurisdictional questions, and EU…
Regular readers of the Kluwer Copyright Blog may already be familiar with the excellent reviews of the first two rulings on the European Union’s new text and data mining (TDM) exception – one from Germany (see the Kneschke v. LAION ruling here, here and here) and one from the Netherlands (see the DPG Media v….
On the 10th of April 2025, new rules came into force as part of Elon Musk’s crackdown on impersonation accounts on X (formerly known as Twitter). Under these rules, any account that impersonates, parodies, or caricatures another comes under two requirements: first, that their username must begin with a keyword like ‘fake’ or ‘parody’; and…
Once the dust has settled after a difficult lawmaking process, commentators may succumb to the temptation of simply accepting and rubberstamping whatever result has been achieved. After all, much time and effort has been spent on developing the newly adopted rules. The legislator has spoken. It makes perfect sense to explore the full potential of…
The concept of lawfulness in relation to user status or user acts has been gradually established in EU digital copyright law as a condition for the enjoyment of certain copyright exceptions. However, the concept has proliferated inconsistently, lacking a clear normative content and shape. There is variant terminology: “lawful acquirer of a computer program” or…
Welcome back for the second part of the C-590/23 Pelham II hearing commentary. In part one (here), we covered the interpretation of pastiche. However, a very interesting topic arose in the Court’s pre-emptive questions, and during the oral questions: the interaction of “pastiche” with Article 17 CDSM Directive. This was not originally part of the…
