For 25 years, a case has been circling the German Courts like a roller coaster without a final decision. To date, the Federal Court (hereinafter “BGH”) alone has ruled on the matter five times. Now, it is in the hands of the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereinafter “CJEU”)– for the second time….
Welcome to the first trimester of the 2024 roundup of EU copyright law (though with a slight delay)! In this edition, we update you on what has happened between January and March 2024 in EU copyright law. Interestingly enough, in this issue you will find quite a bit of UK policy reports. As our regular…
The sweeping evolution of generative AI models is rapidly reshaping the legal landscape of copyright. In the wake of the landmark cases of Authors Guild, Inc v HathiTrust and Authors Guild, Inc v Google, Inc – or the Google Books case –, the fair use doctrine has accommodated a core principle of non-expressive use, referring…
On 19 March 2024, the Court of Appeal handed down its decision on the appeal in the Lidl v Tesco case ([2024] EWCA Civ 262), holding as follows. First instance (High Court) decision Court of Appeal ruling Copyright infringement Overturned (appeal allowed) Trade mark infringement Upheld (appeal dismissed) Passing off Upheld (appeal dismissed) Trade…
The Austrian Supreme Court (hereinafter: “ASC”) ruled on 19th of December 2023 (4 Ob 112/23h) in a case concerning the 2019 film “Yesterday”. The Plaintiff alleged that the film infringed its copyright in a short screenplay idea published in 2011. The First Defendant distributes the film “Yesterday” to Austrian cinemas. The Second Defendant is responsible…
Large language models’ (LLMs) greatest strength may also be their greatest weakness: their learning is so advanced that sometimes, just like humans, they memorise. This is not surprising, of course, because computers are really good at mainly two things: storing and analysing data. There is now empirical evidence that deep learning models are prone to…
Tackling the blurred lines between counterfeiting and ingenuity in the art world is certainly not an easy endeavor. Indeed, in a world where “nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed“, it is a rather daunting exercise for any court to draw the line between inspiration and imitation in copyrighted works, let alone in…
Part I of this annual post reporting on the copyright case law of the German Bundesgerichtshof covered decisions in the areas of copyright protection and exploitation rights, as well as exceptions and limitations. Part II will focus on copyright contract law and claims under copyright law. IV. Copyright contract law (Sections 31 et seqq….
This article continues the tradition of reporting on the copyright case law of the German Bundesgerichtshof, the highest German civil court for copyright matters (Federal Court of Justice – “BGH”). This article summarises the most important BGH copyright decisions in 2022 as well as selected lower-court case law. Readers may find it useful to consult…
The purpose of copyright, at its very basic level, finds its normative implementation in the interplay between access to protected works and the protection of the moral and material interest of creators (see Geiger, 2017). The social contract of copyright, which main purpose is to realize a broader collective concern, the access of citizens to…
