ECJ’s Advocate General favours interoperability in Europe
Long-time readers may remember the interesting case of SAS Institute v World Programming (my analysis here), an important software interoperability decision in the UK that got referred to the European...
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Pinterest and copyright
Source: 9gag.com via Andres on Pinterest Pinterest, in case you have not heard, is the latest social network. It is sort of like Tumbler without the social angst and hipster look. Some have described...
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More on Pinterest and copyright
Source: google.ca via Andres on Pinterest It seems like the Pinterest copyright meme refuses to die. Some days ago I wrote a short analysis of what I believed were the main issues in this subject,...
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What’s up with software copyright? Contrasting Oracle v Google and SAS v WPL
For something which has the unequivocal weight of the law behind it, software copyright has had a rather bumpy history in the courts. Once we get past the obvious facts of law, namely that copyright...
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Autores, fotocopias y educación en Costa Rica
Fotocopiadoras “self-service” Durante los últimos días hemos presenciado un lamentable ataque contra el Congreso y la Fuerza Pública por parte de elementos opuestos al veto presidencial de la Ley 17342...
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How effective are blocking orders against torrent sites?
The High Court of England and Wales has produced another blocking order for UK Internet service providers (ISPs) against three torrent sites. The action was brought by the British Recorded Music...
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Has the UK abolished copyright? Analysis of new orphan work legislation
Please, sir, I want some more copyright protection Has the UK abolished copyright law with the passing of orphan works legislation? I’ll answer quickly with Betteridge’s Law of Headlines: NO. However,...
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In the land of the morally blind, the blind lead the way
In the land of the morally blind, the blind lead the way Earlier this year, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) agreed to hold a special session of its Standing Committee on Copyright...
View ArticleVoluntary copyright relinquishment survey
Yours Truly is writing a report on voluntary copyright relinquishment and public domain dedications for WIPO. The terms of reference of the report can be found here. As part of the work, I thought that...
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Analysis of key copyright provisions in the TPP
Wikileaks has published the IP chapter contained in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, a multilateral trade treaty negotiated between Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Japan, Malaysia,...
View ArticleFunctionality in software is not protected by copyright
I finally managed to read the latest (and hopefully last) instalment of the long legal saga that is SAS Institute v World Programming Ltd. This has been an interesting yet long case that made it all...
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Copyright Week: Has the copyright war been won?
All of this week blogs and websites around the globe have been celebrating Copyright Week, an initiative by the EFF to celebrate two years of the defeat of SOPA/PIPA. Copyright Week consists of a...
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Is the NSA infringing copyright?
My friend and colleague Renata Avila has asked an interesting question on Twitter: “If the NSA is storing, reproducing – copying my data and works, are they violating Copyright Law?” I do not think...
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European court declares that linking does not infringe copyright
An obvious result The Court of Justice of the European Union has reached a decision in the latest case dealing with questions about whether linking to content amounts to a communication to the public,...
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The rise, fall, and rise of Popcorn Time
In a move that did not surprise Yours Truly, the unlicensed streaming service Popcorn Time was shut down by its developers a few days after it had gained notoriety. There was no reason why the site...
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European court allows website blocking
You shall not pass! The European Court of Justice has produced a very interesting ruling with regards to injunctions ordering intermediaries to block websites which make available infringing content....
View ArticleWIPO study on copyright relinquishment released
Can you renounce to your copyright over a work? This simple question is the basis of a study undertaken by Yours Truly for WIPO. Most people I’ve asked the question tend to answer “of course!” It’s...
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UK implements important exception for data mining
A new set of regulations detailing small yet important changes to its copyright law have come into effect in the UK through the publication of the The Copyright and Rights in Performances (Research,...
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European court rules that viewing web pages does not infringe copyright
The 1990s were a bit weird. France won the World Cup. 90210. “Under Construction” animated gifs. Marky Mark. The Rachel. We survived with our sanity intact. Barely. One thing that was weird as well...
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Do monkeys dream of electric copyright?
But first, let me take a #selfie The popular press and the blogosphere are going ape over the news that Wikimedia has refused a take-down request by photographer David Slater of the self-portrait of a...
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