Law and Innovation

Discussions about copyright rules for the digital age are rising. In the last quarter of 2017, the European Commission (“EC”) has been pretty busy to step up the fight against online piracy and counterfeiting; but online platforms also have a role to play. Indeed, hundreds of thousands of movies, TV shows, software and books are still available to download for free. In this article, we highlight some of the new proposals aiming at protecting copyright and ensuring that illegal content once taken down does not (too quickly) simply reappear. How does the Commission plan to step up the fight against counterfeiting and piracy? Apart from the  copyright proposal   reform adopted in September 2016, the EC recently published a number of important IP documents: -           A Communication paper on “ Tackling Illegal Content Online - Towards an enhanced responsibility of online platforms ”;   -    ...

Mauvaise nouvelle pour les utilisateurs du site « The Pirate Bay ». L’Avocat Général (« AG ») SZPUNAR vient pratiquement d’annoncer son naufrage ! Dans son avis du 08 février 2017, il a conclu d’une part que « The Pirate Bay » (« TPB ») communique des œuvres au public et d’autre part que les fournisseurs d'accès à Internet (« FAI ») peuvent bloquer l’accès au site TPB vu son rôle « crucial » dans le partage de ces fichiers illicites. The Pirate Bay sème la terreur depuis 2003… On connait tous sa légende. C’est Le plus grand serveur torrent du web. Il bombarde les ayants-droits depuis presque 15 ans. Il ne laisse jamais de survivant ; ou très rarement. C’est l’intermédiaire qui permet aux utilisateurs de partager les contenus (illégaux) en peer-to-peer . En effet, 90 à 95 % des fichiers partagés sur le réseau du TPB contiennent des œuvres protégées et distribuées sans le consentement des ayants droit. D...

Fresh and interesting article posted on the IPKat  concerning the Los Angeles jury's decision on March 10, 2015 determining that Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke had copied several elements from Marvin Gaye’s 1977 song “Got to Give It Up” with the “Blurred Lines" hit of 2013. Happy reading!  " What with Kats scattering in all directions   to cover so many exciting developments, it's always good to know that the IPKat, Merpel and the blogging team have friends on whom they can rely.  One such friend is occasional guest blogger   Dorothea Thompson , once upon a time a trade mark attorney but now recycled at London-based law firm Bray & Krais. Dorothea has penned this little piece on a recent piece of US litigation that has become a global smash-hit: Blurred Lines in focus Just in case IPKat readers have lived a media-free life in the past 48 hours: on Tuesday an eight-member jury unanimously found that Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams ’...

Recently, the Supreme Court of the United Sates, the highest federal court in the United States, has sought help from the Solicitor General concerning whether it should hear a Android-Java copyright case between Oracle America and Google.  The U.S. Supreme Court has so far not confirmed whether it will hear the case.  Instead, "[t]he Solicitor General is invited to file a brief in this case expressing the views of the United States". As explained on the Department of Justice's site , this person (Donald Verrilli) "determines the cases in which Supreme Court review will be sought by the government and the positions the government will take before the Court. The Office's staff attorneys, Deputy Solicitors General and Assistants to the Solicitor General, participate in preparing the petitions, briefs, and other papers filed by the government in the Supreme Court. The Solicitor General conducts the oral arguments before the Supreme Court". As a reminder...

(Article published in the ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law, International Associates Action Group Newsletter , p.15).   I nnovation continues to outpace the law. Since the last six years, the convergence of cloud-based products/services with the consumption and distribution of entertainment content is producing a large number of conflicts and legal uncertainty in the television industry. Indeed, the scope and bounds of copyright law remain ill-equipped to tackle this rapid pace of technological advancement. The question remains: are we not in presence of a “loophole” in the law?    Following the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of the TV content owners ( American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., et al., Petitioners v. Aereo, Inc ., 573 U.S. ___ (2014)) concluding that “Aereo performs petitioners’ copyrighted works publicly” infringing this exclusive right by selling its subscribers a technologically complex service that allows them to watc...