Case Law, CJEU, Communication (right of), European Union, Germany

(University of Frankfurt)/ /Leave a comment

German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof) decisions of April 30, 2020 ( I ZR 139/15  and I ZR 228/15) Recently, the German Federal Supreme Court issued press releases in two cases which are of fundamental importance for the relationship between copyright and conflicting fundamental rights. Specifically, the two cases, Funke Medien (also known as “Afghanistan Papiere”) and Spiegel…

CDSM Directive, Digital Single Market, European Union

(Université Catholique de Louvain), (NOVA School of Law Lisbon), (University of Trento), (Institute for Information Law (IViR)), (University College Dublin), (University of Strathclyde), (Sciences Po Law School, France), and ( Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna)/ /Leave a comment

Very few institutions were prepared for the transition to distance learning. Although most teachers would have been familiar with online learning platforms and communication services, the swift move to Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) took most universities by surprise. Some universities were able to rely on licensed software, repurposed to instruct students, and provide their staff…

Enforcement, Fair Use, Infringement, Liability, USA

(Berkeley Law School)/ /Leave a comment

There are not many surprises in the just released Copyright Office Section 512 Study. On virtually every issue about which the copyright industry had complained for the last two decades regarding the notice and takedown regime first established by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in 1998, now codified in 17 U.S.C. § 512—from its…

Case Law, CJEU, European Union, Exhaustion, Netherlands

(Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna)/ /Leave a comment

One of the most awaited copyright rulings of 2019 –  Nederlands Uitgeversverbond and Groep Algemene Uitgevers v Tom Kabinet Internet BV and Others (C-263/18), on the admissibility of digital exhaustion under the InfoSoc Directive – came out on 19 December, lost in the decisions galore issued by the CJEU the last working day before the…

Case Law, USA

(Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory US)/ /Leave a comment

Although the time limit for the claim that Phil Everly was a co-author would begin running when Phil’s authorship was repudiated by Don Everly, factual issues precluded summary judgment on the issue. A claim brought by the estate and children of deceased pop musician Phil Everly—one of the famous Everly Brothers—asserting that Phil was a…

Case Law, Infringement, USA

(Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory US)/ /Leave a comment

Like the very similar Patent Remedy Act previously invalidated by the Court, the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act failed to abrogate States’ sovereign immunity. Congress lacked the authority to abrogate the States’ immunity from copyright infringement suits through enactment of the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act of 1990 (CRCA), a unanimous Supreme Court has held. Writing on…

CJEU, Communication (right of), Digital Single Market, European Union, Germany, Infringement

(GFF (Society for Civil Rights))/ /Leave a comment

Yesterday the German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof) published its rulings on three long-standing copyright disputes involving fundamental rights. All three cases had been the subject of preliminary rulings by the CJEU last year, case C‑469/17 (Funke Medien), case C‑516/17 (Spiegel Online) and case C‑476/17 (Pelham). In the two press freedom-related cases, the German Federal Supreme…

Case Law, USA

(Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory US)/ /Leave a comment

Although the claims failed, the district court did not abuse its discretion in rejecting the defendants’ request for a fee award because the plaintiff’s positions were not objectively unreasonable. The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco has affirmed district court orders granting summary judgment in favor of a swimming pool builder and remodeler that…

CDSM Directive, Digital Single Market, European Union, Exceptions and Limitations, Reproduction (right of), Text and Data Mining (TDM)

(Washington College of Law), (Luiss Guido Carli University), and (Institute for Information Law (IViR))/ /Leave a comment

Last year, before the onset of a global pandemic highlighted the critical and urgent need for technology-enabled scientific research, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) launched an inquiry into issues at the intersection of intellectual property (IP) and artificial intelligence (AI). We and other members of the Global Expert Network on Copyright User Rights contributed…

CDSM Directive, Digital Single Market, European Union, France, Legislative process, Press Publishers ’ Right, Remuneration (equitable)

(REALEX)/ /Leave a comment

Overview After fierce lobbying, European press publishers, backed by the French government, obtained the much criticized press publishers’ right (see e.g. here; here; and here) in Article 15 of Directive (EU) 2019/790 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market (CDSM Directive). The objective of this new right is to allow the media…