It is difficult to find an article on any topic in the field of intellectual property (IP) that does not call for reform. Many legislative efforts are afoot in the EU to “update” IP norms, including a proposed Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market. The same is happening elsewhere but most of those…
While awaiting the vote (on 5 July 2018) of the European Parliament on the Legal Affairs (JURI) Committee Proposal on Article 13 of the draft Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market – commented on previously by Christina Angelopoulus – in this post we will focus on the Proposal agreed on by the European…
Last week, the Legal Affairs (JURI) Committee of the European Parliament voted in favour of Rapporteur MEP Axel Voss’s proposal on Article 13 of the draft Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. The saga surrounding this infamous text is however far from over. A group of MEPs are currently challenging the JURI version…
The debate on Art. 13 Draft DSM Directive has gained speed, after the Commission’s initial 2016 proposal was supplemented by the Council’s proposal of May 25, 2018, and after the European Parliament’s JURI Committee on June 20, 2018 also voted on an own proposal for Art. 13 Draft DSM Directive. The plenary vote is due…
Rapper Jay-Z has won another round in his defense against claims that he infringed the copyright in a 1957 arrangement of an Egyptian composer’s song, “Khosara, Khosara” when he used a sample from the arrangement in the background music to his hit single “Big Pimpin’.” The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco affirmed a…
On 4 June 2018, one of the core concepts of copyright – the copyright work – was disputed at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The “cheese battle”, which started in 2015 at the Court of First Instance in Gelderland (the Netherlands) between HEKS’NKAAS (applicant) and ‘Witte Wievenkaas’ (defendant), resulted in a…
As the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice and ongoing discussions in the EU legislature illustrate, the economic rights granted to right holders under EU copyright law – the rights of reproduction, communication to the public and distribution – have become increasingly unpredictable. While the right of reproduction already covers almost every direct or…
Here at the Kluwer Copyright Blog we are thrilled to have had the opportunity to ask Felix Reda MEP a few questions on the controversial Proposal for a Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market (DSM Directive). But first, some background. The original proposal was submitted in November 2016 by the Commission. The ordinary…
The Supreme Court clarified the circumstances under which private copying levies should be paid by importers of cell phones, and reached the conclusion that if two technically independent devices have such a close connection that they together make up one device, such device could be subject to the provisions regarding private copying levies. Case date: 29…
The Tallinn Circuit Court finally and definitively determined the action in the “blank tape levy” court case. This landmark court case had been pending since February 2013, when the authors’, performers’ and phonogram producers’ collecting societies initially filed their complaint against the Government of the Republic of Estonia. During the litigation, the case was reviewed…
