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Month: October 2017

When the court sets the royalty rate, applied to the user of collective management organisation, lower than requested by CMO, does it infringe CMO’s property rights?

The CMO, SIA AKKA/LAA, complained to the European Court of Human Rights that the domestic courts had restricted the copyright of authors whose musical works were collectively managed by the CMO. They complained, in particular, that as a result of the domestic proceedings in which the domestic courts had ordered the CMO to conclude licence agreements with broadcasting organisations and had set a royalty rate, the authors’ exclusive rights to freely conclude licence agreements for the use of their musical works had been restricted, contrary to Article 1 of protocol No. 1of the Convention of Human Rights.

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How one word can “streamline” confusion of trade names, companies and even marks?

Streamline Production Systems, Inc. (SPSI) was established in 1993 by Michael Renick in Beaumont, Texas. SPSI initially began as an oilfield services company. In 1997, SPSI began custom fabricating pressure vessels, and today, it produces a range of custom fabricated natural gas processing equipment, such as gas separators, heat exchangers, re-boilers, and pressure vessels, and sells that equipment to customers nationwide, in addition to continuing to provide oilfield services and repair.

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Whether “volitional conduct” is required to establish a claim for direct copyright infringement

T&S hosts a website that includes a public forum called “HairTalk.” Users of the forum may post content, share comments, ask questions, and engage in online interactions with other users on a range of topics including hair, beauty, and celebrities. Use of HairTalk is governed by terms of service providing that “any photo containing… celebrities… or any copyrighted image (unless you own the copyright) is not permitted.” Every time someone logs on to HairTalk, the user must agree to these terms.

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New amendments in Russian law for owners and holders of trademarks

According to amendments if the right holder and infringer of exclusive right are legal entities and/or individual entrepreneurs and the dispute between them is subject to jurisdiction of commercial court, before to bring a lawsuit seeking compensation or damages, the person, intending to sue, must send to defendant a complaint. If the complaint stays without answer within 30 days following the day when the complaint has been sent, the plaintiff has the right to bring a suit.

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Extended collective licensing (ESL): guidance for relevant licensing bodies applying to run ECL schemes

Collective licensing works on the basis of rights holders mandating collecting societies to manage certain rights on their behalf. As such, those rights holders actively opt in to collective licensing schemes and become collecting society members.

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Collective management organisation SIA AKKA/LAA v. Latvijas Radio

SIA AKKA/LAA (SIA “Autortiesību un komunicēšanās konsultāciju aģentūra/Latvijas Autoru apvienība” –Copyright and Communication Consulting Agency ltd./Latvian Authors Association) is a non-profit organisation founded in Riga by a separate non-profit organisation, the Latvian Authors Association, whose members are various Latvian artists.

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The stronger trademark is, the better for its protection

Grayson O Company, a haircare product manufacturer and holder of a registered trademark, brought trademark and unfair competition action against Agadir International LLC, a competitor haircare product manufacturer. The district court granted summary judgment to Agadir, finding that Grayson O had failed to show the marks were likely to be confused. Appeal court affirmed.

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Russian Yandex cited weak sides in MinCult’s DMCA

Russian Ministry of Culture has proposed to restrict access to pirate web-sites available in Russia without court order. Actually there are a lot of MinCult’s ideas (1,2) aiming to protect intellectual property in Russia and fight with digital piracy. Russian company Yandex believes MinCult’s proposal provides search engines with authority and functions similar to those of courts.

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