Wish to discuss the future of EU copyright? Here are two events for you

Brussels mood

As just reported on the IPKat, further to the proposal for a regulation on cross-border portability of online content services in late 2015, today the European Commission has unveiled its new set of proposals to ameliorate EU copyright and achieve a fully functioning digital single market.

These - among other things - include proposals for a new directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market and a regulation on certain online transmissions of broadcasting organisations and retransmissions. 

Both instruments, if adopted in their current form, will have a deep impact on the EU copyright framework, particularly with regard to online uses of copyright works, responsibilities of hosting providers, users’ freedoms, and authors’ contracts.

In parallel to all this, the Court of Justice of the European Union has been as busy as ever, delivering important rulings in several topical areas of copyright (linking being just an example).

I am organising two new events to review and discuss all these recent developments, including the feasibility (and desirability as such) of proposed Commission action.

• The first event will take place on 5 October 2016 at the beautiful Tower Bridge offices of RPC. Places are limited (with some tickets available for full time students), to provide everybody with the opportunity to discuss fully the present and future of EU copyright. You can find further details and register here.
• The second event will be streamed on YouTube on 6 October 2016: participants can decide to follow it live or watch it at any later time of their choice. This second option is for those who are unable to attend the event on 5 October 2016, eg because based outside London. You can find further details and register here.

The age of EU copyright reform? Here's an event for you

Is this what the future
of EU copyright policy looks like?

What future awaits EU copyright? What are the reform plans (if any) of the EU Commission? What is in the pipeline for the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the area of copyright?

If you have been asking yourself all these (and other) questions, wonder no further!

On 26 May 2015 I am organising a 3-hour event that will address these issues.

On 6 May the EU Commission is indeed due to unveil its own Digital Single Market Strategy, which includes plans to reform EU copyright. A draft version of this document has been already leaked. From this it would appear that areas for legislative intervention in the area of copyright are likely to encompass geo-blocking, exceptions and limitations, civil enforcement, and the role of internet service providers. 

Meanwhile numerous amendments have been presented to the draft Report on the implementation of the InfoSoc Directive, prepared by MEP Julia Reda. Following a vote in the Legal Committee of the European Parliament, her report will be subject to a final vote in plenary in early July.

The motto of the CJEU

Whilst the future of EU copyright policy, including possible legislative intervention, is (slowly) unfolding in Brussels, things are as busy as ever in Luxembourg, where the CJEU has been tackling (and will continue to do so) thorny issues such as digital exhaustion, hyperlinking, exceptions and limitations, and e-lending.

This event will review developments at both policy and judicial levels, and will take place at the beautiful London offices of RPC.

Places are limited (with some tickets available for full time students), so to provide everybody with the opportunity to discuss fully the present and future of EU copyright.

For those who cannot attend in person, it will be also possible to follow the event in either live streaming or at a later time via YouTube.

CDP points are also available.

For further details and reserve your place, just click here!

Love is in the air, and so is EU copyright! Here's a new event for you on 11 March

Oh my, what can it be??
Hopefully a ticket to attend
an EU copyright event!

With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, is there anything better than to think of our love (or, rather: hate?) for EU copyright?

Notoriously this has become an area in which things happen more quickly than when falling in love at first sight.

Since the beginning of this year (so not long time ago!), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has already issued a number of topical decisions, which have touched upon:

• The relationship between copyright, databases, and contractual freedom (Ryanair);
• The circumstances which give rise to the exhaustion of the right of the copyright owner to control further distribution of his/her work under the InfoSoc Directive, including such topical questions as: does this directive envisage digital exhaustion? (Art & Allposters);
• Whether there is such thing as a general EU right of adaptation (does it matter?) (Art & Allposters);
• Jurisdiction in alleged online copyright infringement cases (Hejduk).

On 5 March the CJEU will also deliver its much-awaited ruling in Copydan. This is a case which hopefully will shed some further light on the private copying exception in Directive 2001/29 (the InfoSoc Directive), including levies and ... their lack thereof. The latter will be relevant to understanding better the new UK exception for personal copies for private use (currently subject to judicial review), notably its lack of levies. Is the UK move compatible with EU law?

In parallel to judicial activity, the new Commission has already announced a major overhaul of EU copyright architecture, and the European Parliament has asked Pirate Party MEP Julia Reda to review the implementation of the InfoSoc Directive and advise on how it could be reformed.

It is thus clear that there is currently a lot going on in the area of everybody’s favourite IP right, at both the EU judicial and policy levels. 

This 3-hour 'EU Copyright, I Love You' event on Wednesday 11 March from 2 to 5 pm shall review such developments.

Places are limited (with some tickets available for full time students), so to provide everybody with the opportunity to discuss fully the present and future of EU copyright law and policy. For those who cannot attend in person, it will be also possible to follow the event in either live streaming or at a later time on YouTube.

The venue is the beautiful London offices of RPC.

CDP points are also available!

For further information and registration, just click here.