The European parliament will vote at the end of March 2019 on a proposal to reform EU copyright law. Under this proposal, online platforms arguably have to introduce technological filters to tackle copyright infringements. This will be of particular interest to people who make satirical memes or parodies based on online content such as art or films, much of which is subject to copyright protection. Read the rest of this entry »
I recently had the honour to be invited to give a guest lecture to the Copyright Society of Australia in Sydney. My talk focussed on how the Internet has evolved over the past twenty years, leading to a severe imbalance between Internet platforms and the creative community because of the abuse and misuse of safe harbours, and how recent events have put the big platforms in the spotlight—indeed in the crosshairs of the public and politicians. Read the rest of this entry »
In a blog last week I talked about the role of Open Media in trying to undermine the democratic process and manipulate political opinion by orchestrating widespread anti-copyright astroturfing campaigns in Canada and elsewhere. Read the rest of this entry »
The new European Union Copyright Directive, passed recently by the European parliament after a vociferous campaign both for and against, has been described by its advocates as Europe striking a blow against US tech giants in the battle for control of copyrighted content online. Read the rest of this entry »
A photographer whose camera was used by a monkey to take a selfie recently settled a two-year legal battle against an animal rights group about copyright over the image. The lower court had denied the monkey a copyright, but the parties decided to settle before facing the appeals court. Read the rest of this entry »
The case of Deckmyn v Vandersteen (Case C-201/13) on parody considers a set of questions related to the right to freedom of expression conflicting with copyright, and the impact of the Information Society (Infosoc) Directive 2001/29. In particular, it raises the question whether the parody exception must be given an autonomous and uniform interpretation throughout the European Union, despite the optional nature of the parody exception mentioned in Article 5(3)(k) of the Directive 2001/29.
The decision of the European Court of Justice in Svensson v Retriever Sverige AB (Case C‑466/12, 13 February 2014) has established some important points about the legality of linking under EU copyright law: Read the rest of this entry »
In the case of Paramount Home Entertainment International Ltd v British Sky Broadcasting Ltd ([2013] EWHC 3479 (Ch)) the High Court once again showed its support for copyright holders, granting six major film companies blocking orders under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 against the UK’s six main internet service providers, requiring the ISPs to block access to TubePlus and SolarMovie, two websites that had been providing access via an online database to (but not hosting) a large range of television programmes and films without the authorisation of the relevant copyright owners. Read the rest of this entry »
On the 24th of June 2013, freelance journalist Sheron Boyle wrote a piece for the PressGazette detailing her concerns about a worrying practice which has become increasingly more prevalent in the newspaper industry; “byline banditry.” This is when a freelance journalist sells their first rights of publication to a paper, only to find after publication that their work is being accredited to the staffer for whom the freelancer had written the piece. Read the rest of this entry »
This is the second part of a two part post discussing the relationship between Copyright and Freedom of Expression. Part 1 was published on Inforrm on 2 May 2012. Read the rest of this entry »
