Private copying (PC) levies have for long been one of the most hotly debated topics in EU copyright law and policy. It is a common area for discussion between rightholders, collective rights management organizations (CMOs), the Consumer Electronics/ICT industries and even consumer representative associations. At the EU level, PC levies have been on the harmonization…
The CJEU states that Article 15(6) of Directive 2010/13/EU on short news reports is compatible with Articles 16 and 17 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. On 22 January 2013 the Court of Justice of the European Union handed down a decision on the compatibility of Article 15(6) of Directive 2010/13/EU…
Playing Catch 22 with cultural heritage is quite simple: since cultural heritage institutions hardly ever are in a position to digitize their collection because of a lack of financial resources, they obtain funding on the basis of public/private partnerships. Chances are that in return for the financial support needed for digitization, the private party will…
The Polish Ministry of Administration and Digitisation has initiated discussion on the law providing free access to public resources. The Ministry has made available on its webpage a document entitled “Draft Guidelines for the Proposal of the Act on Open Public Resources” and has invited interested parties to comment. Thus a process of “open access…
On 15 January 2013, the French Constitutional Council declared unconstitutional Article 6, paragraph II, of the law on private copying levy (Law No. 2011-1898). This provision retroactively validated private copying levies that had been paid or claimed based on rates annulled by the French Council of State. To fully understand the ruling of the Constitutional…
ECtHR (5th section), 10 January 2013, case of Ashby Donald and others v. France, Appl. nr. 36769/08. By Dirk Voorhoof, Ghent University and Inger Høedt-Rasmussen, Copenhagen Business School. “Although the European Court did not find a violation of Article 10 in the case of Ashby Donald and others v. France, the judgment in this case…
The usefulness of a computer program is not sufficient to characterise the originality of the program. There is nothing more subjective, and often arbitrary and unfair, than the notion on which copyright protection is based: originality. Under French law, the Intellectual Property Code protects “the rights of authors in all works of the mind, whatever…
Supreme Court of the Netherlands, 23 November 2012, Foundation for Public Lending vs. Association of Public Libraries. Lending right. According to the Supreme Court of The Netherlands there is no legal obligation to pay a separate remuneration for a renewal of a library book loan and the extension of the due date. Plaintiff, the Foundation…
“He decides to write an alternative super hero tale, and uses his partner Thomas’ identity. So the real Thomas turns into the fictive super hero in the book.” This is a story that started out with two partners doing art related projects together. One day one of them, Claus Beck-Nielsen, decides to write a book…
“When providing healthcare in healthcare facilities, there is no obligation to pay remuneration for communication to the public of copyright works. But, is a hotel room where occasionally health treatment is performed a healthcare facility?” On 24 July 2012, Krajský soud v Plzni (Czech Republic) lodged a reference for preliminary ruling with the CJEU in…
