Computer games are becoming more and more important, not only in everyday life but also in legal theory. The German Federal Supreme Court has now issued a decision on the online game World of Warcraft (decision of 06.10.2016, I ZR 25/15 – World of Warcraft I). In this decision, the Court addressed questions regarding the…
In recent years, the Court of Justice has issued a growing number of decisions in response to questions referred for a preliminary ruling on the concept and delimitation of the right of communication to the public in the European Union. CJEU case-law on the topic is currently overwhelming. The particular features of each of the…
A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law The Supreme Court provided guidance on how to assess whether a work should be considered to be an adaptation, within the meaning of Section 4, paragraph 1 of the Swedish Copyright Act, or a new and independent work within the meaning of…
The “Filmspeler” ruling is the last stone in the CJEU’s complex construction on the application of the concept of communication to the public in hyperlinking. Starting with the seminal Svensson case in 2014 (C-466/12), the Court has been progressively diving into the deeper waters of hyperlinking and has been called upon to apply the right…
To ensure you don’t miss out on interesting IP law developments reported on our other IP blogs, we will, on a regular basis, provide you with an overview of the top 3 most-read posts from each of our IP law blogs. Here are the top posts from March and April. Top 3 Kluwer Copyright Blog…
Can a scooter enjoy, contemporaneously, protection as a three-dimensional trademark (hereinafter 3D mark) and under copyright law? Apparently it can, at least according to the Court of Turin, which recently said so, with its decision no. 1900/2017 dated March 17, 2017. The case was started when Piaggio, maker of the scooter Vespa, asserted rights arising…
A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law The Court of Appeal agreed with the High Court’s decision that the defence raised by a pub owner who had been showing football matches using a domestic satellite decoder from a foreign broadcaster was not valid, as there was not a sufficient…
A full report of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law The Supreme Court of Estonia analysed the conditions under which the public performance of works at a school concert falls within the free use exception. In principle, the Supreme Court agreed with the courts of lower instance by holding that the public…
Over the last decade, in particular, the English courts have shown a strong resolve to tackle online infringements of IP rights, and also an ability and willingness to be flexible in the remedies which they can provide to assist IP rights holders in tackling the ever evolving challenges which new technologies have created. A recent…
Last week we published the first part of a two-part article summarising the essence of the presentations at the annual IP conference organised by the University of Geneva on February 22, 2017 (programme available here). This is the second part of the article, discussing the remaining presentations. 4. Scope of copyright: hyperlinking and framing as…
