UK legalises music, film and e-book back-ups – BBC News

Posted October 2nd, 2014 in artistic works, computer programs, copyright, intellectual property, news by tracey

‘A law has come into effect that permits UK citizens to make copies of CDs, MP3s, DVDs, Blu-rays and e-books. Consumers are allowed to keep the duplicates on local storage or in the cloud. While it is legal to make back-ups for personal use, it remains an offence to share the data with friends or family.’

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BBC News, 1st October 2014

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

How October 1 will change your life – Daily Telegraph

‘As a number of new laws come into effect this week, we take a look at how your life will be affected.’

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Daily Telegraph, 1st October 2014

Source: www.telegrpah.co.uk

Deckmyn and another v Vandersteen and others – WLR Daily

Posted September 9th, 2014 in copyright, EC law, intellectual property, law reports by sally

Deckmyn and another v Vandersteen and others (Case C-201/13; ECLI:EU:C:2014:2132; [2014] WLR (D) 385

‘The concept of “parody” within the meaning of article 5(3)(k) of Parliament and Council Directive 2001/29/EC was an autonomous concept of EU law and its essential characteristics were to evoke an existing work, while being noticeably different from it, and secondly, to constitute an expression of humour or mockery. The concept was not subject to the conditions that the parody should display an original character of its own, other than that of displaying noticeable differences with respect to the original parodied work; that it could reasonably be attributed to a person other than the author of the original work itself; and it should relate to the original work itself or mention the source of the parodied work. However, the application of the exception for parody, within the meaning of article 5(3)(k) of Directive had to strike a fair balance between the interests and rights of persons referred to in articles 2 and 3 of the Directive, and the freedom of expression of the user of a protected work who was relying on the exception for parody and it was for the national court to determine, in the light of all the circumstances of the case, whether the application of the exception for parody preserved a fair balance.’

WLR Daily, 3rd September 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

The Intellectual Property Act 2014 (Commencement No. 3 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2014 – NIPC Law

Posted September 8th, 2014 in bills, copyright, damages, intellectual property, news, patents, trade marks by sally

‘On 14 May 2014 the Intellectual Property Bill received royal assent. The Act made some far reaching changes in patents, registered design and unregistered design right law which I summarized in “Reflections on the Intellectual Property Act 2014” 7 June 2014 4-5 IP Tech and discussed in detail in “How the Intellectual Property Act 2014 changes British Patent Law” 21 June 2014 JD Supra, “How the Intellectual Property Act 2014 changes British Registered Design Law” 19 June 2014 JD Supra and “How the Intellectual Property Act 2014 will change British Unregistered Design Right Law” 11 June 2014 JD Supra 11 June 2014. On 28 Aug 2014 Lady Neville-Rolfe, Minister for Intellectual Property, signed The Intellectual Property Act 2014 (Commencement No. 3 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2014 which will bring many of the provisions of the Act into force.’

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NIPC Law, 6th September 2014

Source: www.nipclaw.blogspot.co.uk

New criminal offence for design rights infringement to take effect from October – OUT-LAW.com

Posted September 8th, 2014 in copyright, criminal justice, intellectual property, news, trade marks by sally

‘Criminal penalties could be pursued against intentional copiers of either UK or Community registered designs that do not have rights holders’ permission for their actions from the beginning of next month.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 5th September 2014

Source: www.out-law.com

Taking a selfie inside the National Gallery – a copyright infringement? – Legal Week

Posted August 28th, 2014 in artistic works, copyright, defences, news, photography by sally

‘A few days ago a number of newspapers reported that, following similar moves by a number of other UK institutions, the National Gallery in London has changed its strict no-photos-(please) policy, “after staff realised they were fighting a losing battle against mobile phones”, The Telegraph explains.

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Legal Week, 27th August 2014

Source: www.legalweek.com

Man jailed for filming Fast And Furious in cinema – BBC News

Posted August 22nd, 2014 in copyright, film industry, news, sentencing by tracey

‘A man has been jailed for 33 months after recording Fast And Furious 6 from the back of a cinema in Walsall.’

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BBC News, 22nd August 2014

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Who Owns the Copyright in my Website? – Zenith Chambers

Posted August 14th, 2014 in artistic works, copyright, intellectual property, internet, news by sally

‘“I have paid a developer handsomely for my company’s website so my company owns the Copyright? Right?” Well, not exactly.

The question itself is predicated on a totally incorrect assumption of legal principle of their being a single copyright pertaining to a single site. When considered carefully, a website may consist of a large number of separate elements including music (or jingles), text, photographs, the font of the characters making up the site, colours, style, “look and feel”, language, sequence in which the web pages appear, forms, drawings and designs, and not forgetting the domain name itself. Each and every-one of those features attracts its own copyright and a website might therefore be correctly regarded as a ‘bundle’ of different rights protected separately by copyright law. How does this work? Let us begin by considering any music appearing on the website.’

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Zenith Chambers, 12th August 2014

Source: www.zenithchambers.co.uk

Copyright in the modern world: a load of monkey business? – Technology Law Update

‘The application of intellectual property law in our modern age is fraught with complexities. As societies and technologies develop, situations invariably arise that the drafters of legislation had perhaps not considered.’

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Technology Law Update, 8th August 2014

Source: www.technology-law-blog.co.uk

Wikipedia refuses to delete photo as ‘monkey owns it’ – Daily Telegraph

Posted August 6th, 2014 in animals, copyright, internet, news, photography by sally

‘Wikimedia, the organisation behind Wikipedia, has refused a photographer’s repeated requests to delete his most famous shot as it is jeopardising his livelihood – because a monkey pressed the shutter button and “owns the copyright”.’

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Daily Telegraph, 6th August 2014

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Private copying exception plans face possible legal action following parliamentary sign off – OUT-LAW.com

‘New rights to make private copies of copyrighted works, make free use of copyrighted material in works of parody and quote extracts from copyright protected books, audio and video content will be introduced into UK law from October.’

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OUT-LAW.co, 30th July 2014

Source: www.out-law.com

Digital Economy Act copyright regime shelved by UK government – OUT-LAW.com

Posted July 24th, 2014 in copyright, enforcement, intellectual property, internet, news by sally

‘Work on a new online copyright enforcement regime under the Digital Economy Act (DEA) has been shelved now that rights holders and internet service providers (ISPs) have voluntarily agreed a framework for educating alleged infringers about the harm of piracy, the UK government has confirmed.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 24th July 2014

Source: www.out-law.com

Culture of the Public Domain – A Good Thing? – UCL

Posted July 1st, 2014 in copyright, intellectual property, internet, speeches by sally

‘Speakers: Professor Hugh Hansen, Fordham Law School.’

Video

UCL, 25th June 2014

Source: www.ucl.ac.uk

Newspaper Licensing Agency Ltd and others v Public Relations Consultants Association Ltd – WLR Daily

Posted June 11th, 2014 in copyright, internet, law reports, licensing by sally

Newspaper Licensing Agency Ltd and others v Public Relations Consultants Association Ltd (Case C‑360/13); ECLI:EU:C:2014:910; [2014] WLR (D) 244

‘Article 5 of Parliament and Council Directive 2001/29/EC of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society meant that the copies on a user’s computer screen and the copies in the Internet “cache” of that computer’s hard disk, made by an end-user in the course of viewing a website, satisfied the conditions that those copies had to be temporary, that they had to be transient or incidental in nature and that they had to constitute an integral and essential part of a technological process, as well as the conditions laid down in article 5(5) of that Directive, and that they could therefore be made without the authorisation of the copyright holders.’

WLR Daily, 5th June 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

No separate licence needed for internet browsing – Public Relations Consultants v Newspaper Licensing Agency – Technology Law Update

Posted June 9th, 2014 in appeals, copyright, EC law, internet, licensing, news, Supreme Court by sally

‘Copyright law struggles to keep up with developing technology. In February’s Svensson decision the European court said that using hyperlinks to access material already freely available on the internet did not infringe.’

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Technology Law Update, 9th June 2014

Source: www.technology-law-blog.co.uk

Internet users cannot be sued for browsing the web, ECJ rules – The Guardian

Posted June 9th, 2014 in appeals, copyright, EC law, internet, interpretation, licensing, news, Supreme Court by sally

‘Internet users who visit a website are safe from the threat of a copyright lawsuit, thanks to a landmark case which concluded in the European court of justice on Thursday.’

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The Guardian, 5th June 2014

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Copyright for the digital age: a partial implementation of the Hargreaves review – Technology Law Update

Posted June 6th, 2014 in copyright, education, licensing, news by sally

‘This week saw the introduction of some of the UK government’s new exceptions to copyright. These are intended to bring in changes to update copyright law for the digital age, implementing the 2011 Hargreaves Review. But several of the more controversial measures have been held up in the parliamentary process and have yet to take effect.’

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Technology Law Update, 6th June 2014

Source: www.technology-law-blog.co.uk

Researchers given ‘data mining’ right under new UK copyright laws – OUT-LAW.com

‘Copying content from online journals or other texts for the purposes of non-commercial research is no longer an infringement of UK copyright laws providing copiers have lawful access to that content and they, generally, make “a sufficient acknowledgement” of the original work.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 2nd June 2014

Source: www.out-law.com

Man behind Newzbin operations found liable for copyright infringement on the sites – OUT-LAW.com

Posted May 27th, 2014 in conspiracy, copyright, fraud, intellectual property, internet, news by sally

‘The High Court has found a man liable for copyright infringement carried out on the file sharing Newzbin websites and ruled that he also part of a conspiracy to infringe copyrights and defraud film studios.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 23rd May 2014

Source: www.out-law.com

No implied copyright licence following takeover, rules Court of Appeal – OUT-LAW.com

Posted April 15th, 2014 in appeals, computer programs, copyright, documents, forgery, licensing, news by tracey

‘A businessman who forged a document and lied about its authenticity has won a legal battle against a major financial institution over copyright.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 15th April 2014

Source: www.out-law.com