CREATe Public Lecture 2017: the Case for a Related Right for
Press Publishers
CREATe is the Research Council
UK’s Centre for Copyright and New Business Models in the Creative Economy at
the School of Law – University of Glasgow. The Centre is headed up by Professor Martin Kretschmer.
On February 14th, Thomas Hoeppner (Professor of Civil
Law, Business Law and Intellectual
Property Law, Wildau Technical University of Applied Sciences, and,
Partner in a Berlin based law firm), will present on “EU copyright reform: the
case for a related right for press publishers.”
“On September 14th 2016,
the European Commission presented a package of proposed copyright reforms under
the banner of promoting a Digital Single Market (DSM). Amongst others, the
proposal includes an exclusive right of press publishers for the digital
publication of their press publications.
The proposal has been
criticised by academics arguing that the right lacked a justification and would
interfere with the access to information (see above). Picking up on this
lecture against a publishers’ right, Prof. Hoeppner investigates the merits of
such a right. To this end, the lecture outlines the economic and technical
background including the developments in the consumption of press publications
since the current legislation came into force. The lecture will then present
the arguments in favour of the proposed right and examine the counter-arguments
raised against it.”
This lecture is in
contrast to a previous lecture presented by Professor
Raquel Xalabarder (Chair of Intellectual Property, Universitat Oberta de
Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain), in which she discussed the press publisher rights
in the proposed Directive on
copyright in the Digital Single Market, arguing that the right would not actually
achieve the desired policy objectives set out in the recitals.
The lecture is free and
open to everyone.
It will be held in the
Humanities Lecture Theatre in the University of Glasgow on Tuesday 14 February
2017, 17:30 – 19:00.
Visit the CREATe webpage
to register for the event.
P.S. This 1709 Intern is currently preparing
analysis on the proposed exclusive right of press publishers for the digital
publication of their press publications – watch this space!
Postdoctoral Fellowship Opportunity at Harvard –
deadline March 1, 2017
The Qualcomm Fellowship is a two-year, residential postdoctoral program specifically designed to identify, cultivate, and promote promising scholars early in their careers with a primary interest in intellectual property and its connection to one or more of property, contracts, torts, commercial law, unjust enrichment, restitution, equity, and remedies. Fellows have been selected from among recent graduates, young academics, and mid-career practitioners who are committed to pursuing publishable research likely to make a significant contribution to private law scholarship.
Fellows devote their full time to scholarly activities in furtherance of their individual research agendas. In addition, fellows contribute to the intellectual life of the Project and the Harvard Law School community through mentoring students, presenting their research in and attending faculty workshops and seminars, helping to organize and participating in Centre events, and blogging.
Purpose
The
Project on the Foundations of Private Law is an interdisciplinary research
programme at Harvard Law School dedicated to scholarly research in private law.
Applicants should be aspiring academics with a primary interest in intellectual
property (especially, patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret) and its
connection to one or more of property, contracts, torts, commercial law, unjust
enrichment, restitution, equity and remedies. The Project welcomes applicants
with a serious interest in legal structures and institutions, and welcomes a
variety of perspectives, including economics, history, philosophy and
comparative law. The Qualcomm Postdoctoral Fellowship in Private Law and
Intellectual Property is specifically designed to identify, cultivate and
promote promising IP scholars early in their career.
More
information can be found at http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/about/privatelaw/index.html
Programme
The
Qualcomm Postdoctoral Fellowship in Private Law and Intellectual Property is a
full-time, two year residential appointment, starting in the Fall of 2017. Like
other postdoctoral fellows, IP Fellows devote their full time to scholarly
activities in furtherance of their individual research agendas in intellectual
property and private law.
Eligibility
By the
start of the fellowship term, applicants must hold a J.D. or other graduate law
degree. Applications will be evaluated by the quality and probably significance
of their research proposals, and by their record of academic professional
achievement
For more information, please contact Bradford Conner, conner@law.harvard.edu.
Applications
must be received by March 1, 2017.
DailyMotion Permanently Blocked in Russia As A
Consequence of Copyright Complaints
DailyMotion,
the video-hosting platform, has been permanently blocked in
Russia.
The Moscow
City court has ordered local ISPs to block subscribers from accessing
DailyMotion. In other jurisdictions, this measure is usually reserved for ‘pirate’
sites, such as The Pirate Bay and Book-Fi.
The
blocking of DailyMotion is a consequence of repeated allegations of copyright
infringement by Gazprom Media, as well as DailyMotion’s alleged inadequacy in
dealing with those allegations. his story began back in 2016, when Gazprom Media discovered that video clips from one of its TV channels were being hosted on DailyMotion without permission. Gazprom Media told Russia’s Gazeta that its representatives had sent several complaints to DailyMotion’s offices over the course of 2016 but no response was received. Gazprom Media had DailyMotion URLs blocked at least twice during 2016 by the Moscow City Court. In December of 2016, DailyMotion was given a last chance to remove the problem clips from its platform. The subsequent failure of DailyMotion to comply with the Moscow City’s courts order has led it to engage the laws applying to repeat copyright infringers, therefore giving an order to local ISPs to block DailyMotion permanently.
In
comments made to The Hollywood Reporter, a spokesman for DailyMotion stated that
the company had no knowledge of any ongoing court procedure against it and was
going to “take all necessary steps to make contact with relevant authorities in
Russia to resolve the issue.”
Shattered Mirror; News, Democracy and trust in
the digital age
Just a few
days ago, the Public Policy Forum released its anticipated report on the future of
Canadian media, entitled, “Shattered Mirror; News, Democracy and trust in the
digital age.” The decline of the news industry is a hot topic across the globe
at the moment, with the proposed neighbouring right for news publishers found
in the Proposal for a
Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on copyright in the
Digital Single Market
sparking much debate across Europe.
The report
makes 12 recommendations (summarised here), including a review of
the Copyright Act’s fair-dealing rules in order to strengthen the rights of
news originators to control their intellectual property.
The Copyright Act’s fair-dealing rules
The most
recent iteration of Canada’s Copyright Act was enacted in 2012, and is due to
be reviewed this year. It includes a series of listed exceptions to copyright
infringement, including a fair dealing exception for news reporting at Article 29.2. The fair dealing
exception in relation to news reporting state that;
“Fair dealing for the
purpose of news reporting does not infringe copyright if the following are
mentioned:
(a) The source; and
(b) If given the source, the
name of the
a. Author, in the case of a
work,
b. Performer, in the case
of a work,
c. Maker, in the case of a
sound recording, or
d. Broadcaster, in the case
of a communication signal”
Reviewing the Copyright Act’s fair-dealing rules
to strengthen rights of news originators to control their intellectual property
(recommendation number 4)
The Public
Policy Forum recommends on page 90 of the report a review which
“tightens usage of copyrighted news material in favour of creators, without
unduly stifling the social power of sharing on the Internet. News producers
have a right to benefit from their work for a reasonable period while pursuing
the business strategy of their choice.”
The report
goes on;
“In many cases, the
issue arises when aggregators, bloggers or others use material without
permission. This is good for the aggregator, and perhaps convenient for the
consumer, but even if the material links back to its source, the original
producer should be able to decide whether it wants to share – and whether it
wants to negotiate compensation in some form.”
An anecdote is
subsequently given;
“In different
circumstances, the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal told us of an exclusive
photo posted on its site during the 2014 attack in Moncton that left three members
of the RCMP dead. The site maintains what is known as a “hard paywall,” making
content available only to paid subscribers. As a result, it experienced a spike
in registrations when word spread of its photo. Then the CBC copied the photo
without permission, and
the spike quickly subsided. What the CBC did is, in one way or another, common
these days, and can be argued to be permissible under fair-dealing provisions.”
This recommendation is
likely to spark much debate over its potential consequences for free speech,
and whether narrowing the fair-dealing exception in relation to news would result
in the desired economic improvement for the news publishing sector. This
recommendation has already attracted criticism, and it will be
interesting to follow the parallel unfolding debates on this issue across the
European and Canadian jurisdictions.
European Copyright Society – Opinion on EU Reform Package
On a brief and final
note, the European Copyright Society published its Opinion on the EU Reform
Package
on 25 January 2017.
The European Copyright Society provides a platform for
“critical and independent scholarly thinking on European Copyright Law and
policy. Its members are scholars and
academics from various countries of Europe, seeking to articulate and promote
their views of the overall public interest on all topics in the field of
authors rights, neighbouring rights and related matters.”
This CopyKat from Tibbie McIntyre
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