Intellectual property

To be or not to be the private copying levy … in EU?

Published 12th January 2018

Different points of view (de) on old issue

Angelika Niebler

Digital private copying has taken on major economic importance as a result of technological progress and the shift to the Internet and Cloud, and the existing system of private copying levies does not take sufficient account of developments in the digital age. There is currently no alternative approach in this area that would ensure appropriate remuneration for the rightholder and at the same time make private copying possible. A discussion therefore needs to be conducted in the long term on a more efficient and up-to-date approach that takes more account of technological progress.

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Viacom-Google battle

Published 11th January 2018

YouTube, owned by Google, operates a website onto which users may upload video files free of charge. Uploaded files are copied and formatted by YouTube’s computer systems, and then made available for viewing on YouTube. Plaintiffs claimed that “Defendants had ‘actual knowledge’ and were ‘aware of facts or circumstances from which infringing activity was apparent,’ but failed to do anything about it.”

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Scarlet v. Sabam case: analysis by advocate general

Published 11th January 2018

The Court was called upon to tell the national court explicitly whether, under European Union law, a national court is permitted to adopt a measure, ordering an internet service provider to introduce a system for filtering and blocking electronic communications.

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Cavada’s report on the online distribution of audiovisual works in the EU

Published 10th January 2018

Digital services, such as video streaming, should be made available to all EU citizens irrespective of the Member State in which they are located; it should to call on the Commission to request that European digital companies remove geographical controls (e.g. IP address blocking) across the Union and allow the purchase of digital services from outside the consumer’s Member State of origin.

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GS Media v Sanoma and others – background

Published 8th January 2018

Sanoma, the publisher of the monthly magazine Playboy, commissioned a photographer, Mr Hermès, to conduct a photoshoot of Ms Dekker. Ms Dekker appears regularly in television programmes in the Netherlands. The photographer gave Sanoma full power of attorney to represent him for purposes of protection and enforcement of his intellectual property rights arising from the aforementioned commission.

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Guidance on IPRED – types of costs to be reimbursed and focus on commercial scale infringements

Published 6th January 2018

While Article 14 of IPRED refers to ‘legal costs and other expenses incurred by the successful party’, the Directive does not define what these concepts entail precisely. The CJEU has held that the concept of ‘legal costs’ includes, amongst others, lawyer’s fees. It also held that the concept of ‘other expenses’ includes, in principle, costs incurred for the services of a technical adviser.

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SWD IA on EU copyright modernisation – digital retransmissions of TV and radio programmes

Published 6th January 2018

The problem is that the providers of retransmission services face practical difficulties with the acquisition of rights for retransmission of TV and radio channels from other Member States by means other than cable.

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Third edition of USA copyright office compendium – examination practices

Published 2nd January 2018

When the U.S. Copyright Office determines that the material deposited constitutes copyrightable subject matter and that the other legal and formal requirements of U.S. copyright law have been met, it will register the claim and send the applicant a certificate of registration under the seal of the U.S. Copyright Office.

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SCF v Marco Del Corso – background proceedings

Published 29th December 2017

Società Consortile Fonografici (SCF) is a copyright management society for Italy and abroad. It represents performers and phonogram producers. SCF conducted negotiations with the Associazione Dentisti Italiani (Association of Italian Dentists) with a view to concluding a collective agreement quantifying the relevant equitable remuneration within the meaning of Articles 73 or 73a of the Law on copyright for the communication of phonograms, including distribution in private professional practices whatever the technique used.

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Some questions of safe harbor rule interpretation in USA

Published 29th December 2017

Veoh Networks (Veoh) operates a publicly accessible website that enables users to share videos with other users. Users can view videos uploaded by other users as well as authorized “partner content” made available by major copyright holders such as SonyBMG, ABC and ESPN.

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Category: Intellectual property