Two men jailed over Dancing Jesus site music piracy – BBC News
‘Two men have been jailed for illegally distributing music through an online music forum.’
BBC News, 10th November 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Category: intellectual property
IPO explains how government will resolve complaints about rights holder technical restrictions on lawful copying – OUT-LAW.com
‘Universities, research bodies and other organisations that want to benefit from “an eligible copyright exception” but are prevented from doing so because the works they wish to copy are subject to technological protection measures (TPMs) can now raise a complaint with the UK government.’
Full story
OUT-LAW.com, 5th November 2014
Source: www.out-law.com
Inquiries as to Damages in the Patents County Court: Henderson v All Around the World Recordings Ltd – NIPC Law
‘I last discussed this litigation in Success Fees and ATE Premiums in the Patents County Court: Henderson v All Around the World Recordings Ltd 4 May 2013. I set out the basic facts in my case note:
“This was an action for infringement of a performer’s rights which Judge Birss QC (as he then was) decided in Henderson v All Around the World Recordings Ltd and Another [2013] EWPCC 7 (13 Feb 2013)……. She had not been entirely successful and the costs of an unsuccessful copyright claim and half the costs of an application were awarded against her but she had succeeded overall.”‘
NIPC Law, 5th November 2014
Source: www.nipclaw.blogspot.co.uk
Website blocking orders against ISPs – Cartier and 1967 – Technology Law Update
‘Two recent UK cases have underlined the vulnerability of internet service providers to allegations of IP infringement. ISPs can no longer says that they merely provide the roadways along which traffic, both good and bad, can pass. They are now being expected to police those roads and impede the progress of wrongdoers.’
Technology Law Update, 5th November 2014
Source: www.technology-law-update.co.uk
Orphan Works Licensing – NIPC Law
‘One of the consequences of extending the term of copyright in many types of copyright has been a massive increase in the number of works in which copyright subsists whose owners cannot be identified or found. Such works are known as “orphan works” and HM government claims that there are some 91 million of them in the UK alone. Because their owners cannot be traced orphan works cannot lawfully be reproduced even for preservation. Consequently, works recorded on such media as celluloid film and magnetic tape may be lost for ever. Much of that work is culturally important and some of it is of considerable scientific interest such as patient records in studies of malaria. In Digital Opportunity: A Review of Intellectual Property and Growth Professor Hargreaves described the problem of orphan works as “the starkest failure of the copyright framework to adapt.”‘
NIPC Law, 3rd November 2014
Source: www.nipclaw.blogspot.co.uk
IPO launches new ‘orphan works’ licensing system – OUT-LAW.com
‘Businesses wishing to make use of copyrighted works that have no known rights holder can now obtain a licence allowing them to use the material without infringing UK copyright laws under a new licensing system launched by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO).’
OUT-LAW.com, 31st October 2014
Source: www.out-law.com
Intellectual Property Act 2014: The New Law on Opinions – NIPC Law
‘As I indicated in How the Intellectual Property Act 2014 changes British Patent Law JD Supra 21 June 2014 s.16 of the Intellectual Property Act 2014 amends s.74A and s.74B of the Patents Act 1977 and inserts three new subsections into s.73. The upshot as explained in paragraph 4 and paragraph 5 of the IPO’s guide Expansion of the Patent Opinions Service: business guidance is that the range of questions upon which an examiner’s opinion can be obtained has been expanded and the Comptroller now has power to revoke patents which are found to be invalid.’
NIPC Law, 29th October 2014
Source: www.nipclaw.blogspot.co.uk
Flos putting us all through the Mill – NIPC Law
‘In 1962 Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni designed a floor lamp with a marble base and a curved lead to a bowl shaped reflector. Those lamps, known as the Arco lamp and you can see a picture of one of those lamps in Achille Castiglioni’s studio in Quick History: The Arco Lamp in Apartment Therapy. Original Arco lamps retail for £1,373 but it is possible to buy a reproduction for a fraction of that price as the Prime Minister’s wife did recently (see “Samantha Cameron counts the cost of her repro lamp” 3 Oct 2011 The Guardian).’
NIPC Law, 17th October 2014
Source: www.nipclaw.blogspot.co.uk
Courts should not be given free rein to create new defences against trade mark infringement – OUT-LAW.com
‘Proposals by academics to allow new defences against trade mark infringement to be created in the future should be resisted, a trade mark law specialist has warned.’
OUT-LAW.com, 6th October 2014
Source: www.out-law.com
Academy loses High Court passing off action brought against private college – Local Government Lawyer
‘An academy school has lost an action for passing-off taken against a nearby private college.’
Local Government Lawyer, 2nd October 2014
Source: www.localgovernment lawyer.co.uk
UK legalises music, film and e-book back-ups – BBC News
‘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.’
BBC News, 1st October 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Deckmyn and another v Vandersteen and others – WLR Daily
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
‘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.’
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
‘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.’
OUT-LAW.com, 5th September 2014
Source: www.out-law.com
Who Owns the Copyright in my Website? – Zenith Chambers
‘“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.’
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.’
Technology Law Update, 8th August 2014
Source: www.technology-law-blog.co.uk
Ifejika v Ifejika – another case about design rights and contact lenses – NIPC Law
‘In Ifejika v Ifejika and another [2011] EWPCC 31 (23 Nov 2011) His Honour Judge Birss QC (as he then was) ordered among other things an inquiry (or alternatively, by implication, an account) in relation to a lens care product the design rights in which he held to have been infringed by the claimant’s brother by of a competing product. The claimant elected an account of profits and this came on before HH Judge Hacon on 17 June 2014 (Ifejika v Ifejika and another [2014] EWHC 2625 (IPEC) (31 July 2014)).’
NIPC Law, 3rd August 2014
Source: www.nipclaw.blogspot.co.uk
Supreme Court calls time on Greek yoghurt food fight – The Lawyer
‘The Supreme Court has sided with the makers of Total yoghurt, Fage, in refusing US rival Chobani permission to appeal the definition of Greek yoghurt.’
The Lawyer, 30th July 2014
Source: www.thelawyer.com
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.’
OUT-LAW.co, 30th July 2014
Source: www.out-law.com
Digital Economy Act copyright regime shelved by UK government – OUT-LAW.com
‘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.’
OUT-LAW.com, 24th July 2014
Source: www.out-law.com
