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.
In August 2020, a review of the Orphan Works Directive (2012/28/EU), or OWD, was initiated by the European Commission. The study concluded that the OWD has had limited practical impact, but the European Commission has not proposed any modifications to the Directive. This post provides a short introduction to the OWD, an overview of the…
Pastiche is one of the newer harmonized user rights in EU copyright law. The exception for caricature, parody and pastiche was made mandatory as part of Article 17 of the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive (CDSMD) in 2019. Although the implementation deadline passed in 2021, several Member States have yet to transpose the…
A series of recent amendments to copyright law, including in the EU Copyright and the Digital Single Market Directive (Art. 3 and 4) and in Singapore’s new Copyright Act (Art. 243, 244), seek to protect the ability of text and data mining researchers to use copyrighted content in their work. “Text and data mining” (“TDM”)…
This post is based in part on an amicus brief filed by the Harvard Cyberlaw Clinic on behalf of Authors Alliance and ComicMix before the United States Supreme Court in Jack Daniels v. VIP Products. Ordinarily, authors who write parodies look to copyright limitations and exceptions to protect their rights. In the United States, the…
The implementation transposition of the Copyright Directive 2019/790 (DSMD) in the summer of 2021 represented probably the greatest reform in German copyright law since the German Copyright Act (UrhG) came into force. Germany’s implementation of Art. 17 DSMD was discussed in an earlier blog post by Julian Waiblinger and Jonathan Pukas. The other changes to…
This post looks back at the key developments in AI and copyright in 2022, covering generative AI, text and data mining exceptions, the pastiche exception, deep fakes, voice cloning and infringement and enforcement of copyright using AI.
Introduction: Brazilian Copyright Framework and the existing L&Es Brazil has signed most Intellectual Property (IP) law Treaties, but notably it has not adhered to the WIPO Copyright or the WIPO Phonogram and Performance Treaties. The main national legal instrument for copyright is the Brazilian Copyright Law (Law n. 9.610/98), which is complemented by the software…
This contribution was posted first on 17 January 2023 on The Digital Constitutionalist under the title: Safeguarding the Constitutional Role of Media as Fourth Estate of Democracy: Copyright as a Regulatory Framework for Freedom of Expression and Access to Information Online. In September 2022, the European Commission published its draft European Media Freedom Act…
Part I of this post discussed the changes to copyright contract law and the new text and data mining exemption provisions that formed part of the 2021 copyright law reform. Part 2 explores further exemptions for users of works, new aspects of the right of communication to the public and the press publishers’ right. It…
Repair and maintenance information is often crucial for the repair of today’s increasingly complex and computerised products and devices. Copyright’s subsistence in repair manuals and information can run contrary to the public interest in access and dissemination of this information, leading to the premature product obsolescence and abandonment. The InfoSoc Directive’s non-mandatory exception for the…
