©-LAW

Readers will recall that back in 2015 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decided the important  Soulier and Doke  case   [Katposts  here ] , ruling that EU law mandates the recognition of the ‘author principle’, that is the need for the consent - whether express of implied (the latter is however to be strictly defined) - of authors to the doing, by third parties, of acts restricted by copyright in relation to their works. Indeed, the protection afforded by copyright is not solely concerned with the  enjoyment  of rights, but also with their  exercise . The CJEU held that that authors must be  individually  informed of the future third-party uses of their works and the means available to prohibit them if so they wish. In the absence of any actual prior information relating to that future use, authors are not in a position to prohibit such use, if necessary, so that the very existence of implicit consent appears pur...

From confidentiality to disclosure in 3 Kat-steps (DIY instructions  here ) By reading the very interesting  EU Law Live Blog , The IPKat has discovered an intriguing decision ( Herbay v Hungary , Appl. No. 11608/15 ) that the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issued just a few days ago on the thorny issue of whether an employee’s own confidentiality obligations trump their freedom of expression and information under Article 10 of the  European Convention on Human Rights  (ECHR).  The answer?  Great news for IPKat bloggers  An employment contract can go far, but not too far. Let's see what happened and how the Court ruled. Background   In 2006, the applicant worked as a human resources management expert at a financial institution (Bank O.) in Hungary. In this capacity, he undertook the analysis and calculation of salaries and staffing management. Among other things, he contributed to his employer’s remuneration policy re...

When the room you booked on Airbnb is already occupied Earlier this week, The IPKat received an intriguing couple of questions from a reader who is currently studying IP law: does someone renting out their spare bedroom on  Airbnb  around 50% of the time have to acquire a separate licence for the TV set which they have in said room? and what if they also have a radio set that allows guests to play music in said environment?  From an EU perspective, issues of this kind require consideration of the string of case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on the right of communication to the public under the  InfoSoc  and  Rental and Lending Rights  Directives, including a pending referral -  Stim and SAMI , C-753/18   [Katpost  here ]   ( the Opinion of the appointed Advocate General is  expected  on 15 January 2020) - asking whether: the hiring out of cars equipped as standard with radio receiver...

Did you think that the Rubik's Cube EU trade mark saga was over? Of course not.  Further to the 2016 judgment ( C-30/15 P ) of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)  [Katpost  here ]  and the return of the case to the EUIPO, yesterday the General Court (GC) issued yet another ruling ( T-601/17 ). The GC confirmed that the trade mark registration should be cancelled on consideration that it falls within the scope of application of the absolute ground in what is currently Article 7(1)(e)(ii)  EUTMR   (the case was decided under the 1994 Regulation). This provision prevents registration of " signs which consist exclusively of  the shape, or another characteristic, of goods which is necessary to obtain a technical result" (the addition of "or another characteristic" occurred in the context of the 2015 reform). Background   In 1996, Seven Toys filed an application to register the 3-D sign above as an EUTM f...

Over the past few months several media outlets have been reporting on a series of copyright lawsuits filed in the US against celebrities over their social media (in particular: Instagram) feeds  [Katposts by Hayleigh  here ,  here , and  here ] .  Whilst some of these lawsuits concerned fairly straightforward issues, that is the publication of third-party photographs portraying third parties  [eg, Versace publishing a photograph of Jennifer Lopez wearing Versace:  here ; or super-model Gigi Hadid posting a picture of her boyfriend  Zayn Malik :  here ] , others are potentially more intriguing in that they relate to the publication by celebrities of photographs of themselves.  The first of this series of recent lawsuits is the one concerning the publication, by Gigi Hadid on her Instagram account, of this photograph of herself taken by a paparazzo:  The complaint was eventually  dismissed  becaus...