©-LAW

Yes, at last the question that has been daunting copyright enthusiasts for a long time - at least since the 2012 decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in  UsedSoft , C-128/11   [Katposts  here ]  - is going to be asked: Is there such thing as digital exhaustion under the  InfoSoc Directive ? This is a topic that this blog has followed for a while  [latest installment  here ] ; the practical implications relate to the possibility of having second-hand markets for digital copies of copyright content, e.g. e-books, videogames, audiobooks, etc. The law As far as the law is concerned, the relevant provision is Article 4(2) of the InfoSocDirective, which concerns exhaustion of the right of distribution: "The distribution right shall not be exhausted within the Community in respect of the original or copies of the work, except where the first sale or other transfer of ownership in the Community of that obje...

Trying to understand newly proposed VAT rules Can VAT rules have any implications for ... copyright? Yesterday - as part of its  Digital Single Market Strategy  - the EU Commission unveiled proposals for  new tax rules  with the objective of supporting e-commerce and online businesses in the EU. Among the measures proposed, there is one that may be of interest also from a copyright perspective.  New VAT rules for e-publications The Commission proposed in fact to apply the same VAT rate to e-publications, eg e-books and online newspapers, as for their printed equivalents, thus  removing provisions that excluded e-publications from the favourable tax treatment allowed for traditional printed publications. As explained in the relevant  proposal , a ccording to the  VAT Directive  electronically supplied services including electronically supplied publications have to be taxed at the standard VAT rate (minimum 15%). On the other hand, Me...