Communication (right of), Enforcement, Infringement, Jurisdiction, Legislative process, Making available (right of)

(Department of Business Law, Lund University)/ /Leave a comment

Copyright law has developed in close connection with technological evolution. This is particularly true of digital technologies, especially the Internet, which, since the mid-1990s, has generated both vast opportunities and enormous challenges for the copyright system. Geographical distance is no longer an obstacle to the dissemination of works, which can now take place at virtually…

European Union, Jurisdiction, Legislative process, Netherlands

(Maastricht University)/ /1 Comment

As readers of this blog might recall, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has spurred fierce criticisms across Europe. Probably as a consequence of that, the EU has suspended the ratification process and, last 4th of April, the College of Commissioners has agreed on the wording of a question to refer to the Court of Justice…

Case Law, Enforcement, Infringement, Liability, Netherlands

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

The Dutch Court of Appeal in Leeuwarden has ruled in favor of an online market platform with regard to its liability for intellectual property infringements and the burden of policing for unlawful use of its platform. The case between Stokke, the producer of the Tripp Trapp highchair, and Marktplaats, an eBay subsidiary and the most…

Case Law, Enforcement, Infringement, Jurisdiction, Liability, Netherlands, Technological measures

(Institute for Information Law (IViR))/ /1 Comment

On 10 May, the District Court of The Hague extended an earlier ruling with regard to two access providers to block The Pirate Bay to several major Dutch access providers.  The providers lament the ruling and consider appealing it, but soon more than 90% of the Dutch market blocks the infamous website. On the same…

Case Law, Enforcement, Infringement, Italy, Jurisdiction, Liability

(KU Leuven Centre for IT & IP Law)/ /1 Comment

In recent years, Italian courts have struggled to create a new figure, the ‘active hosting provider,’ whereby providers that do not offer any content themselves, can nonetheless be held liable with regard to their (commercial) activities in relation to infringing content that was uploaded by users. On the one hand, it could be argued that…

Case Law, European Union, Infringement, Jurisdiction

(University of Cyprus)/ /Leave a comment

“The ruling confirms the exclusion of ideas from software copyright protection and enlightens certain grey zones of the Software Directive.” The protection of computer programs is one of the nicest paradoxes of copyright law. Even if the protection of the computer programs as literary works has been established in the European and in the international…

Case Law, France, Jurisdiction

(Institute for Information Law (IViR))/ /1 Comment

On 5 April 2012, the French Court of Cassation stayed of proceedings in a copyright infringement case opposing a French songwriter to an Austrian CD manufacturer and referred preliminary questions to the CJEU on the interpretation of Article 5 (3) of Regulation 44/2001 (on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and…

Case Law, Enforcement, European Union, Legislative process, Remedies, Sweden

(Department of Business Law, Lund University)/ /Leave a comment

“One could say that the CJEU by its decision in the Bonnier-case has “defended” or “safeguarded” the right of civil enforcement by right holders against direct online infringers.” As with enforcement of rights in the analogue environment, enforcement of copyright online presupposes that the infringer is identified or that an intermediary takes action. However, it can…

Exceptions and Limitations, Legislative process, Private copying, Remuneration (equitable), Reproduction (right of)

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An Italian administrative court says yes. Directive 29/2001/EC on copyright and related rights in the information society introduced the principle that EU Member States may authorize individuals to make copies of copyrighted audio, visual and audio-visual works, for private use, without the need to request authorization to right holders, subject to the general condition that…

Case Law, Distribution (right of), European Union, Exhaustion, Reproduction (right of)

(Institute of Intellectual Property Law, Jagiellonian University Kraków)/ /1 Comment

On April 24, 2012 the Advocate General Yves Bot delivered his opinion in the UsedSoft case (C-128/11) concerning exhaustion in digital products that have not been distributed on a material carrier. I think this may be one of the more interesting and bold opinions in the area of copyright law, although I am aware the…