©-LAW

Is the practice of publishing extracts of entertainment  TV programmes risky? In Italy, yes (in the picture, an example from UK's  Daily Mail ) Do the Italian copyright exceptions for news reporting and  criticism/review  [respectively,  Articles  65  and  70  of the Italian Copyright Act]  apply to the reproduction and making available on a newspaper's website of extracts of TV programmes having the character of pure entertainment  [eg  Big Brother ] ? As  reported  by very interesting online resource Marchi & Brevetti, according the Tribunale di Roma (Rome Court of First Instance) the answer is ... NO. In a decision adopted on 13 July 2016 but only published on 5 October 2016 (18413/2016), the Rome court ruled partly in favour of  RTI - Reti Televisive Italiane (owned by broadcasting company  Mediaset ). It did so in the context of proceedings that RTI had brought against Gruppo Editorial...

Bertie's favourite summer sport Can the unauthorised reproduction and making available of clips  of cricket  matches  lasting up to 8 seconds amount to an infringement of copyright in works lasting several  days   hours  minutes about this exciting and fast-paced sport? Unsurprisingly, the answer is yes. Last Friday Arnold J issued his 174-paragraph  judgment  in  England And Wales Cricket Board Ltd & Anor v Tixdaq Ltd & Anor  [2016] EWHC 575 (Ch). Background The claimants in this case own the copyrights in TV broadcasts (and films incorporated therein) of most cricket matches  played by the England men's and women's cricket teams.  The defendants operate a website,  www.fanatix.com  and various apps, in particular the fanatix app for iPhone/iPad  [of all the things, this  Vine -inspired app was at the centre of the dispute, and was advertised as follows on the AppStore:  "Capture, Cap...