Copyright | Dekuzu

The matter of implied copyright licence

Published 20th November 2016

In 1984, Jesus Muhammad‐Ali painted a portrait of the leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan. In 2013, Ali sued The Final Call, a newspaper that describes itself as the “propagation arm of the Nation of Islam,” for copyright infringement. The Final Call, it turned out, admittedly had sold over a hundred copies of Ali’s Farrakhan portrait. Ali nonetheless lost his case after a bench trial. He appealed, arguing that the district court misstated the elements of a prima facie copyright infringement claim and erroneously shifted to him the burden of proving that the copies were unauthorized.

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Why broadcasters are not happy with mobile operators in Russia?

Published 19th November 2016

First channel and MTS resolved the “dispute” about what content can be broadcasted in internet. MTS will stream only that content which is intended for internet. First Channel will also have access to statistics of views. But what about the others? One executive from “Grand Three” revealed some reasons of dispute. First of all, the quality of First Channel’s OTT stream is not appropriate. Customer is not ready to miss some content in stream, customer require streaming the same content as traditionally broadcasted.

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Proposal for a directive on contracts for the supply of digital content – legal basis, subsidiarity and proportionality

Published 18th November 2016

The existing and upcoming fragmentation creates obstacles for businesses to sell cross-border because they have to incur contract law-related costs. Businesses are also uncertain about their rights and obligations. This has a direct effect on the establishment and functioning of the internal market and negatively affects competition.

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Guiding principles agreed by stakeholders on EU level on online advertising and IPR

Published 17th November 2016

These principles will not undermine or impact national initiatives, but will operate in a manner that supports such initiatives, provide a framework for EU level approaches and encourage solutions to be developed in the Member States.

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Russian “First channel” accused “grand three” of mobile operators of piracy

Published 16th November 2016

“First channel”, one of the major channel in Russia, has accused Russian mobile operators (Russian mobile services (MTS), Megafon and Vimpelcom (Beeline)) of illegal distribution of its content in internet. Such “distribution” causes a loss in advertisement revenues for First channel. But mobile operators from the “Grand Three” believe they don’t infringe First Channel’s copyright – everything is in accordance with law.

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UK country IP guide: now for Turkey

Published 12th November 2016

UK Intellectual Property Office has published new guide – Intellectual property in Turkey. This is an independent report commissioned by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO). The guide briefly explains the main key points for those interested in the field of intellectual property in relation to Turkey.

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Russian minister of culture has requested Russian government to regain copyright in Russian films to “Lenfilm” and Gorky film studios

Published 12th November 2016

Russian minister of culture Vladimir Medinsky has sent a letter to Russian prime-minister Dmitry Medvedev. In this letter Medinsky requested Medvedev to regain lost copyright in movies made by Lenfilm and Gorky Film studios to these studios. Such measure could help these studios to earn at least 200 million roubles in a year, Medinsky believes.

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What’s on first – fair use, plausible pleading ownership of valid copyright or neither?

Published 12th November 2016

Abbott and Costello were a popular mid‐Twentieth Century comedy duo. One of their routines, commonly referred to as “Who’s on First?”, has become a treasured piece of American entertainment history.

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Spinal Tap – money flow dispute

Published 10th November 2016

Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer first performed together live as Spinal Tap in a television show in the 1970’s. They later, with Rob Reiner, developed the characters in the Spinal Tap band and made a short film with improvised scenes and seven songs. In the process of attempting to turn that short film into a feature-length movie, they formed a joint partnership, “Spinal Tap Productions” (“STP”). On the strength of this work, on May 7, 1982, Reiner, Shearer, Guest, and McKean, as co-owners of STP, signed an agreement with Embassy Pictures for production, financing, and distribution of the motion picture This Is Spinal Tap.

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Intellectual Property and the U.S. Economy: 2016 Update report

Published 10th November 2016

This report builds on the 2012 version by providing an update on the impact of IP on US economy and a fresh look at the approach used to measure those results. The update continues to focus on measuring the intensity of IP use, and its persistent relationship to economic indicators such as employment, wages, and value added.

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Category: Copyright