Press "Enter" to skip to content

Category: Competition

European commission accepted commitments from Amazon on e-books

The European Commission has adopted a decision that renders legally binding the commitments offered by Amazon. The commitments address the Commission’s preliminary competition concerns relating to a number of clauses in Amazon’s distribution agreements with e-book publishers in Europe. Amazon will no longer enforce or introduce these clauses in agreements with publishers.

Comments closed

Proposal for regulation on the exercise of copyright and related rights for online transmissions of broadcasting in EU – what it’s all about

The ancillary online services covered by this Regulation are those services offered by broadcasting organisations which have a clear and subordinate relationship to the broadcast. They include services giving access to television and radio programmes in a linear manner simultaneously to the broadcast and services giving access, within a defined time period after the broadcast, to television and radio programmes which have been previously broadcast by the broadcasting organisation (so-called catch-up services).

Comments closed

Australian copyright law review – with a fair use exception the right questions could be asked

An Australian copyright law review committee recommended the introduction of fair use in 1998. Almost 30 existing exceptions could be repealed, if fair use were enacted. In time, others might also be repealed. Replacing so many exceptions with a single fairness exception will make the Copyright Act considerably more clear, coherent and principled.

Comments closed

Public comment on collective rights management rules review by the Council of Music Creators

The Consent Decrees of ASCAP and BMI were originally devised to prevent either of the PROs from exercising too much market power over music users and raising prices beyond a level which they might achieve in an open market. For nearly 60 years they achieved this purpose, providing users with an efficient way to license a vast repertory, music creators and their publishers with an efficient system for the collection and distribution of license fees, and consumers with access to the repertoire of protected works.

Comments closed

Proposal for regulation on the exercise of copyright and related rights for online transmissions of broadcasting in EU

Broadcasters and retransmission service providers are increasingly investing in the development of digital and online services for the distribution of radio and television programmes. The online offerings of broadcasters include notably simulcasting services (TV/radio channels which are transmitted online alongside traditional broadcasting by satellite, cable or, terrestrial), TV catch-up services and podcasts.

Comments closed

Public comment by SAG-AFTRA on collective rights managements rules review

The Consent Decrees are outdated and in relation to the current digital landscape, diminishing the artists’ ability to exploit their works. First, the Consent Decrees mandate that both PROs unequivocally grant a license to any user who submits an application, granting immediate access to the PRO’s entire repertoire upon application without first having to negotiate economic terms of the license or make any payment.

Comments closed

USA Copyright Office on FCC set-top-box proposed rule

The Proposed Rule would require multichannel video programming distributors (“MVPDs”) to provide qualifying third parties with access to copyrighted video content, as well as associated programming information, for use across a broad spectrum of products ranging from physical set-top devices to internet-based software applications.

Comments closed

Retrospective: Collective rights management in the Digital Single Market – summary of responses to technical review

The Directive’s main objective is to ensure that collective management organisations (“CMOs”) act in the best interests of the rightholders they represent. The Directive sets out the standards that CMOs must meet to ensure that they act in the best interests of the rightholders they represent. It establishes some fundamental protections for rightholders, including those who are not members of CMOs. These include detailed requirements for the way in which rights revenues are collected and paid, how the monies are handled, and how deductions are made.

Comments closed

What minimum threshold for box-office must be if the movie was funded by state budget in Russia?

Russian minister of culture Vladimir Medinsky proposed to implement new criteria in order to determine whether investments at the account of state budget were effective; in other words whether companies, who received state aid for production of movie, have made their job good and produced successful movie. It means the more people watched movie in cinema, the better company works.

Comments closed

Public comment by National Religious Broadcasting Music License Committee concerning review of rules on collective rights management

Consent Decrees remain essential to foster competitive market pricing for music performance rights. SESAC exercises substantial market power as a licensing collective and should be subject to regulation comparable to that to which ASCAP and BMI are subject. Copyright law principles and market structure coalesce to eliminate competition in the marketplace for music performance rights. These combined factors give the PROs enormous market power insulated from competitive forces.

Comments closed