The 42nd session of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) took place from 9 to 13 May 2022 in Geneva. This was the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic started that most of the delegates were reunited in person. In 2020 and 2021, the Committee held hybrid…
An interesting case recently decided by the Italian Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione) has focused on whether the slogan “500% FIAT” can be protected by copyright (decision No. 8276/2022, published on 14 March 2022). The dispute was started by the author of the slogan against the Italian carmaker FIAT. The author had registered the slogan…
The UK High Court has declared that Ed Sheeran’s mega-hit “Shape of You” does not infringe copyright in Sami Switch’s lesser-known song “Oh Why” ([2022] EWHC 827 (Ch)). The case focuses on whether Ed Sheeran consciously copied Sami Switch’s chorus. Accordingly, this case is a useful example of how a court will: (1) assess the…
Part I of this post discussed Grand Chamber judgment on the validity of Article 17 CDSMD and explained the need for a more concrete strategy to meet the challenge of implementing that provision in national laws. This part II discusses the growth of public regulators as a check on the rise of private power in…
This two-part blog post offers both an evaluation of the current regulatory challenge faced by MS implementing Art. 17 CDSMD after the CJEU’s ruling in Case C-401/19, as well as a fresh perspective on tackling the implementation challenge ahead. Part I of this post provides context to our analysis, explaining the need for a more…
The European Copyright Society posted an opinion on selected aspects of the proposed Data Act. The aim of the Data Act’s sui generis clause (art. 35) to reduce the availability of IP rights over some datasets is welcome. However, its drafting is flawed and risks creating even more fragmentation in the laws of Member States….
The district court’s rejection of the employee’s qualified immunity arguments on summary judgment was nonappealable. The U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans lacked jurisdiction to hear an appeal of a district court’s summary judgment ruling finding that material facts precluded deciding as a matter of law the validity of a qualified immunity defense asserted…
In its landmark 1994 decision Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569 (1994), the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruled that Campbell’s creation of a rap parody version of a popular Roy Orbison song could be fair use because it transformed the original song by adding something new, with a different purpose, or a new meaning…
Judgment nº208/2021 of Madrid Commercial Court nº16 (December 20th, 2021) Context and facts This case concerns a dispute between the collecting management organisation CEDRO[1] and GOOGLE DISCOVER for non-payment of fair compensation for the limitation established in article 32.2 (now abrogated by the implementation of the CDSM Directive[2]) of the Spanish Copyright Act (SCA) between…
A conference jointly organized by the Department of Law of the University of Cyprus and the H2020 project reCreating Europe – Nicosia, 31 October – 1 November 2022 The University of Cyprus, together with the Horizon 2020 project reCreating Europe, funded by the European Commission, is conveying the conference “Rethinking copyright flexibilities”. The…
