Exceptions and Limitations

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.

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Collective management, European Union, Exceptions and Limitations, Infringement, Text and Data Mining (TDM)

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

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…

CJEU, Digital Single Market, European Union, Exceptions and Limitations, Exhaustion

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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…

Case Law, CDSM Directive, CJEU, Digital Single Market, European Union, Exceptions and Limitations, Infringement

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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…

Case Law, European Union, Exceptions and Limitations, Germany, Infringement

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On 14 January 2025, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) heard oral arguments in the much-anticipated case C-590/23 Pelham II, where the German Federal Court submitted a request for preliminary ruling on the interpretation of “pastiche”. The purpose was to ascertain whether a two-second sample from a phonogram could fall under the…

CDSM Directive, Digital Single Market, European Union, Exceptions and Limitations, Netherlands, Press Publishers ’ Right

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Introduction The 2019 Copyright in the Digital Single Market (DSM) Directive is a complex legislative text that raises several questions of legal interpretation. Increasingly, these questions are making their way to national courts. A recent example is the Dutch case ruled upon by the Amsterdam District Court (“the court”) on 30 October 2024. The plaintiffs…

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Case Law, Exceptions and Limitations, Germany, Text and Data Mining (TDM)

(Lillick Professor of Law, Stanford Law School) and , (Morrison & Foerster LLP)/ /Leave a comment

In the first part of this post on the Kneschke vs. LAION decision by the German Hamburg Regional Court (“Court”), we explored the Court’s key findings regarding the operational step in a generative AI model, and the decision on the exceptions for scientific research text and data mining (“TDM”) and temporary reproductions. Now, in this…

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Case Law, Exceptions and Limitations, Germany, Text and Data Mining (TDM)

(Lillick Professor of Law, Stanford Law School) and , (Morrison & Foerster LLP)/ /Leave a comment

On September 27, 2024, the German Hamburg Regional Court (“Court”) issued the first ruling on reproductions of copyrighted content from the Internet made during the creation of an AI training data set – and on whether the copyright exceptions for text and data mining (“TDM”) provide statutory permission for such use (Landgericht Hamburg, 310 O…

European Union, Exceptions and Limitations

(University of Szeged, Hungary), (Institute for Information Law (IViR) ), (Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna), and (Luiss Guido Carli University)/ /Leave a comment

In its latest opinion, the European Copyright Society has reviewed the German Federal Court of Justice’s (BGH) referral in the Pelham II (a.k.a. Metall auf Metall) case. Although the beginning of the legal dispute dates back to 1999, a quarter century seemed to be not enough to answer all possible questions surrounding the sampling of a…

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Exceptions and Limitations, Germany, Text and Data Mining (TDM)

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The German Regional Court (Landgericht) of Hamburg handed down its judgment in the LAION case on 27 September 2024 (file no. 310 O 227/23, published in German here).   The key points of the decision are as follows: The reproduction of works for the purpose of creating URL lists that can be used for artificial…

Austria, Case Law, Exceptions and Limitations, Infringement

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The Robber Hotzenplotz is the title of a book series for children, written by Ottfried Preußler. The figure of robber Hotzenplotz is characterized on the book cover by a huge black hat, a red band and a feather.   A political party incorporated the face of the Austrian city’s mayor into the drawing of robber…