Poland: Plagiarism, Supreme Court of Poland, V CSK 125/14, 23 January 2015
The Polish Supreme Court held that the use of elements of a work of authorship, which are widely known and available (in the public domain), in another work in which those elements were combined in a...
View ArticleFrance: Aïcha, Court of Cassation of France, First Civil Law Chamber,...
Brad SpitzThe French Supreme Court stated that the lower courts must take into consideration all the choices of the author in order to decide whether a work is original and therefore protected by...
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Lithuania: Infringement of copyright in photographs, Regional Court of...
Inga LukauskienėMETIDA Law FirmThe court of appeals confirmed that there had been infringement of copyright in the claimant’s photographs, and in doing so, clarified the requirements for the protection...
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Originality and Databases
Guido WestkampCentre for Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary, University of LondonFootball listings have hit the UK again, this time with an “original” twist.Disputes surrounding football lists never...
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Supreme Court, 22.06.2010, IV CSK 459/09 – Subject matter of copyright
Tomasz TargoszInstitute of Intellectual Property Law, Jagiellonian University KrakówWhat is and what is not a copyright work is a question even copyright lawyers find difficult to answer when...
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James Joyce Estate finally gives Kate Bush Permission to use Molly Bloom...
Guido WestkampCentre for Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary, University of LondonBy Luke McDongagh, PhD Candidate, QMIPRI The Irish Times has recently reported that the Joyce estate has, after many...
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Opinion of the Advocate General of the ECJ in the Painer case (2): the notion...
Stef van GompelInstitute for Information Law (IViR)The Advocate General’s Opinion in Case C-145/10, Painer v Standard VerlagsGmbH et al., parts of which have already been discussed in an earlier blog...
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Another piece of the puzzle, or is it? CJEU on photographs as copyright works
Mireille van EechoudInstitute for Information Law (IViR)By Mireille van Eechoud, Institute for Information Law (IViR) Of the many questions addressed by the Court in its Painer judgment (Case C-145/10)...
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Belgian Supreme Court: against the tide of the CJEU’s case law on “originality”?
Philippe LaurentMarx, Van Ranst, Vermeersch & PartnersOn 26 January 2012, the Belgian Supreme Court decided to quash an appeal decision deeming that “when requiring that a work must show the stamp...
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A Story to be Told. The fine line between plagiarism and story-(re)telling
Giorgio SpedicatoMonducci Perri Spedicato & Partners“What seems to lack in the decision of the Court, at the end of the day, is a clear test of what constitutes a structural element in the...
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Originality of a computer program under French law
Brad SpitzYS Avocats The usefulness of a computer program is not sufficient to characterise the originality of the program. There is nothing more subjective, and often arbitrary and unfair, than the...
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Goodbye, Geschriftenbescherming!
Bernt HugenholtzInstitute for Information Law (IViR)Besides tulips, cheese, football and other recreational matters, the Netherlands are famous for its copyright protection of non-original writings....
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NL: Confusing slavish imitation of a painting style is not illegitimate.
Piter de WeerdInstitute for Information Law (IViR)“The law does not allow for additional protection of the maker of a work against so-called slavish imitation of a style or of elements of style.”...
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France: no copyright protection for perfume
Brad SpitzYS AvocatsThe Supreme Court maintains its position in a case concerning a Lancôme perfume, stating that ‘copyright only protects creations in their tangible form, so far as this form is...
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Italy: Buma di Paolo Buscema v Data Bridge, Supreme Court of Cassation of...
Elisabetta FerraroTrevisan & CuonzoThe Italian Supreme Court confirmed that software which derives from a pre-existing computer program is eligible for copyright protection provided it demonstrates...
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Brexit and copyright law: will the English courts revert to the ‘old’ test...
Theo Savvides and Sean IbbetsonBristowsAs discussed in this blog post, the impact which Brexit has on the UK’s copyright regime will largely depend on the exact form that Brexit takes. Whilst copyright...
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Your Hosting v. Bavaria: stricter demarcations for the concept of ‘Work’?
Geert LokhorstInstitute for Information Law (IViR)It could be called the Dutch case of the summer of 2016: the question of whether beer manufacturer Bavaria’s slogan “Zo. Nu eerst een Bavaria”...
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The Kukuxumusu case: a game of flea, cat and mouse
Patricia MariscalThe pictorial universe of Kukuxumusu is emblazoned on countless sweatshirts and T-shirts across the length and breadth of Spain. A blue bull with yellow horns and a sheep with bulging...
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The “artistic” Vespa?
Erica Vaccarello and Fabio AngeliniCan a scooter enjoy, contemporaneously, protection as a three-dimensional trademark (hereinafter 3D mark) and under copyright law? Apparently it can, at least...
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Estonia: Tiina Tammer, Supreme Court of Estonia, 3-2-1-153-16, 29 March 2017
Elise VasamaeA full report of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law. In this interesting case, the Supreme Court of Estonia examined whether the answers given by the claimant in the framework...
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