Bits and pieces

Grzegorz Pacek, a Polish lawyer who is currently also a Ph.D candidate at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, is working on a thesis on the use of copyright-protected works by the press in reliance on statutory permissions (eg news reporting as a part of 'fair use' or'fair dealing'). While Grzegorz is particularly concerned with Polish law, he is also interested in a comparative analysis, taking in other jurisdictions -- so he wonders if there are any readers who share his interest and who wold like to contact him with their thoughts and experiences (presumably this includes newspapers, reporters and authors of works to which the press has helped itself).  Do get in touch if you can. Grzegorz can be emailed here.

Professor Paul Torremans has informed us that "The ALAI Congress is this year being organised by our Irish colleagues. It will take place in Dublin on 30 June and 1 July 2011. The programme and registration details can be found at http://www.alaidublin2011.org/. The early bird registration rate applies only until 1 April".

In December 2009 the 1709 Blog mentioned the references to the Court of Justice of the European Union of Cases C‑431/09 et C‑432/09 Airfield NV and Canal Digitaal BV v Belgische Vereniging van Auteurs, Componisten en Uitgevers CVBA (Sabam) and Airfield NV v Agicoa Belgium BVBA.  Well, the Advocate General's Opinion was published this morning here -- in a number of languages but not, alas, in English.  In French, AG Niilo Jääskinen opines as follows:

«La directive 93/83/CEE du Conseil, du 27 septembre 1993, relative à la coordination de certaines règles du droit d’auteur et des droits voisins du droit d’auteur applicables à la radiodiffusion par satellite et à la retransmission par câble, ne s’oppose pas à ce qu’un fournisseur de bouquets de chaînes de télévision satellitaires soit tenu d’obtenir l’autorisation des titulaires de droits d’auteur, ou de droits voisins du droit d’auteur, pour des opérations dans lesquelles un organisme de radiodiffusion lui fournit les signaux porteurs de ses programmes dans des circonstances telles que celles en cause au principal.»

In English, thanks to Google, this comes out as

"Council Directive 93/83/EEC of 27 September 1993 on the coordination of certain rules concerning copyright and rights related to copyright applicable to satellite broadcasting and cable retransmission, does not preclude that a provider of channel satellite television is required to obtain permission from the holders of copyright or related rights of copyright, for transactions in which a broadcasting organization provides signals carrying programs in circumstances such as those at issue".

Readers' comments and clarifications are welcomed.