Going for Gold: 3D Printing, Jewellery and the Future of Intellectual Property Law

Additive Manufacturing, or 3D printing as it is more commonly known, continues to push the boundaries of Intellectual Property (IP) law whilst raising questions relating to the protection and exploitation of IP.

There have been various attempts to address these questions through legal and empirical studies; yet at the same time, there continues to be limited literature and debate on the implications of 3D printing surrounding IP law, industry, society, technology and policy.

This challenge, which extends to the lucrative jewellery sector raises further questions in relation to creativity, design, copyright and licensing and these issues will be addressed at the event by bringing together experts from the cultural and business sectors including designers, manufacturers, distributors, policy makers and legal professionals.

This multi-disciplinary event which will explore the above issues will also provide the platform for a discussion of the ‘Going for Gold’ project carried out by researchers at CIPPM (Bournemouth University) in collaboration with Museotechniki Ltd and Uformia AS and will be complemented by a demonstration of 3D printed jewellery artefacts resulting from the project.

The event, based on the ‘Going for Gold’ project is supported by the RCUK funded Centre for Copyright and New Business Models in the Creative Economy (CREATe), AHRC Grant Number AH/K000179/1.

Confirmed Speakers and Participants:

Mark Bloomfield (Electrobloom); Roger Brownsword (Bournemouth University / Kings College London); Ruth Burstall (Baker & McKenzie LLP); Frank Cooper (Jewellery Industry Innovation Centre, Birmingham Jewellery School); Lionel Dean (De Montfort University); Damian Etherington (Ipswich Museum); Nikolaos Maniatis (Museotechniki Ltd); Dids McDonald (Anti Copying in Design); Dinusha Mendis (Bournemouth University); Jonathan Rowley (Digits2Widgets); Cherie Stamm (Uformia AS); Andrea Wallace (CREATe, University of Glasgow); Michael Weinberg (Shapeways Inc).


Date: 24 March 2017

Time: 10 am - 5 pm

Venue: Executive Business Centre, Bournemouth University

The event is free to attend, however, places are limited and registration https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/going-for-gold-3d-printing-jewellery-and-the-future-of-intellectual-property-law-implications-for-tickets-32234922521?aff=ehomecard  is required.


For any queries, please contact, Dinusha Mendis at dmendis@bournemouth.ac.uk

The ACI Adam and UPC Telekabel judgments: time to legalise file-sharing?

From Joao Quintais and Christina Angelopoulos comes the following note, with a timely reminder concerning the forthcoming Information Influx event. They write:

In Case C-435/12 ACI Adam BV and Others the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that the private use copying exemption allowed under Articles 5(2)(b) and 5(5) of Directive 2001/29 (the InfoSoc Directive) is limited to reproductions made from lawful sources. This affects how private copying levies can be calculated: the number of reproductions made from unlawful sources can no longer be taken into account. At least as importantly, it also means that a significant number of acts of reproduction made by end-users are now clearly qualified as infringing, such as downloads of movies and music from unlicensed internet sites. Does this strengthen or weaken the case for the legalisation of file-sharing for non-commercial uses?

At the Institute for Information Law's upcoming Information Influx International Conference (Amsterdam, 2-4 July) an expert panel considers the ramifications and potential impact of this and other recent CJEU judgments. IViR researchers will also present the preliminary results of a survey of the Dutch public's views on alternative compensation systems (details here).

In another panel at the same conference entitled “Filtering Away Infringement: Copyright, Injunctions and the Role of ISPs” the focus will lie on the related question of the role of intermediaries in stopping illegal file-sharing. The private copying judgment has repercussions for ISPs too. In Case C-314/12, UPC Telekabel Wien GmbH v Constantin Film Verleih GmbH, the Austrian referring court queried, among other matters, the relevance of the exact parameters of the private copying exception with regard to the interpretation of Article 8(3) of the InfoSoc Directive. That provision treats intermediaries whose services are used by a third party to infringe a copyright or related right as being subject to injunctive relief. The Court concluded that uploaders of infringing content “use the services of intermediaries” in the sense of Article 8(3), which opens intermediaries up to injunctive action. In this way the CJEU avoided discussing the private copying exception in that context. The ACI Adam judgment however would indicate that, even in cases where the Court’s logic in UPC Telekabel would not apply, intermediaries would still not be shielded from injunctions, as the downloader (who indubitably does use the services of her access provider) must also be considered to be participating in the infringement. The implications would be substantial and no doubt will give rise to a lively debate at the conference.

This looks good; this blogger is curious to know what the conclusions of the expert panel might be, and hopes to hear all about it after the event.

Fashion and copyright

Unable to attend (meaning not invited to) Milan Fashion Week, this blogger spoke yesterday at the legal equivalent: the Intellectual Property in the Fashion Industry conference. 

The IP Kat was speed blogging at a rate of knots, so you may already have read his summary of the conference, however below is some more detail on the copyright issues that were discussed.

Copyright doesn't protect fashion

"Copyright doesn't protect fashion" is a statement frequently bandied around, however what is meant is that in the UK at least it is difficult to protect a garment using fashion. Our closed list common law system means that unless a garment can be said to fall into one of the eight protected categories, it cannot be protected. A garment could be said to be an original artistic work: a work of artistic craftsmanship. Case law is not in favour of this argument as a string of cases demonstrate how difficult it is to show that a garment is artistic (see for instance the baby's cape in Merlet v Mothercare, or the sweaters displayed in the V&A in Guild v Eskandar.) The requirement that a work be "artistic" is unusual in the copyright world as it requires a judge to consider the esthetic merit of the work. As Lord Reid said in Hensher v Restawhile, "it depends on whether a substantial section of the public admire the thing for its appearance". The result of this is that it is difficult to show that a garment is a work of artistic craftsmanship, and indeed no-one at the conference could remember a case where any work had been considered to be a work of artistic craftsmanship.

That said, it is possible to protect other works relevant to the fashion industry using copyright. There is far less controversy surroundin the protection of photographs, films, collages, sculptures etc.

The Red Bus Case

Temple Island v New English Teas (the red bus case) was discussed in relation to Kate Spade's alleged copying of Vera Neumann's poppy design. The case demonstrates how difficult it is to draw a line between copying an idea or concept such as a poppy, and copying the expression of that idea, i.e. Vera Neumann's design. Further, the PCC's finding that a person who recreates the subject matter of another person's photograph can infringe copyright in that photo is relevant to the fashion industry as magazines and catalogues often recreate runway or haute couture photographs to showcase high street clothes.

Harmonisation of protected subject matter

A string of recent cases from the CJEU indicate that in the EU a work is protected if it is its "author's own intellectual creation" (see Infopaq, Bezpečnostní softwarová asociace, FAPL and SAS v World Programming Ltd). This does not sit comfortably with the English law notion that a work is only protected if it falls within one of the eight categories set out at s.1 CDPA and it is not clear whether English courts will follow the CJEU's approach in protecting works in which the author's own intellectual creation vests. The notion of what is a protected work is not generally controversial however the EU test could enable protection of items currently not protected under English law, such as garments or perfume.

An allied concept is that of originality, for which the EU test has been applied in the UK by the High Court in NLA v Meltwater. Mrs Justice Proudman found that, when considering originality in relation to whether a substantial part of a work was taken, it was necessary to take European law into account. Answering her own question as to whether the test of originality had been changed by Infopaq she considered that the test had been 'restated but for present purposes not significantly altered by Infopaq'.

All this is indicative that fundamental copyright principles are changing and that we could see a shift towards increased protection for the fashion industry.

 Whether the fashion industry needs or wants increased protection is another question entirely. See here for an analysis of "why knock-offs are good for the fashion industry" and contrast with the fact that the US "Fashion Copyright Bill" has made it throught he Senate Judiciary Committee and is headed for the full Senate.

A Century of Dutch Copyright Law

From none other than Professor Bernt Hugenholtz (Institute for Information Law: IViR, University of Amsterdam) comes news of "© 1912-2012. A Century of Dutch Copyright Law", this being a celebration of     the law we either love or hate and its impact on one of Europe's quirkiest and often most sparklingly brilliant jurisdictions: the Netherlands.  As Bernt informs us:

In 2012 the Dutch Copyright Act (‘Auteurswet’) will celebrate its centenary. The Act of 1912 is one of the world’s oldest ‘living’ acts in the author’s rights tradition. This conference will look at the characteristic elements of the Dutch Act from an international perspective. Four of the world’s most prominent experts on international and European copyright will query what the world of copyright may or may not have learned, or may yet learn, from the Dutch legislative experiment. Each presentation will be followed by a comment by a Dutch expert.

The conference will be officially opened by Dr Francis Gurry, Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). In preparation of the conference sixteen scholars on Dutch copyright have agreed to write extensive papers on distinct aspects of the Dutch Act. These papers will be collected into a book to be published by DeLex and officially launched at the conference.

The conference will be held at the Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen (Royal Tropical Institute), Amsterdam, August 31, 2012.

Conference details here; registration here.

IP and Media in the Digital Age conference

Against the backdrop of the ever increasing demand by the 'connected world' to use online and digital methods to consume content, and the ever growing proliferation of illegal ways to access online material, this conference hopes to provide some answers and updates on what is happening with IP and media in the digtal age. With Kim Dotcom on remand, the Hadopi and Sinde laws in operation in France and Spain respectively, and with perceived success for content owners in Russia, in Newzbin 2 and against the Pirate Bay, it's been no secret over the last couple of months that the entertainment industry has "begun to fight back". There again, with SOPA and PIPA suddenly on the back burner, the DEA still unimplemented and ongoing issues of privacy, free speech and competition law, its not all rosy for the content businesses.

This Butterworths' conference says "it is essential that you keep up to date with the competing issues being fought out in the courts, as well as understanding the complexities of new online business models". To be held on 23rd March 2012 in Central London, IP and Media in the Digital Age conference will provide a comprehensive analysis of new approaches to protecting intellectual property rights. The expert speaker panel will be there to discuss the following critical issues:

• Understand the implications of Hollywood’s High Court win requiring BT to block the website Newzbin2
• Discuss what ‘communication to the public’ means in today’s digital environment
• Explore the regulatory issues surrounding the advent of “Connected TV”
• Debate whether new online business models will kill off the traditional entertainment industry
• Hear the latest on cross border licensing initiatives in Europe

To download the full agenda or to register, please visit: http://www.conferencesandtraining.co.uk/IP-Media or email registrations@lexisnexis.co.uk.

Plus, book before 10th February 2012 to receive a £50 discount. To claim it, all you have to do is quote the reference ‘IPMLUB’ when registering.

11th Annual International Copyright Law 2011: antidote to pudding-thoughts

The 11th Annual International Copyright Law 2011, organised by IBC Conferences, takes place in three weeks time, from 6 to 7 December 2011, in Central London. This blogger has a soft spot for the event, in which he and Hugo Cox (also a member of the 1709 Blog team till he took a recent break from blogging) have spoken in the past, and in which a number of his friends are speaking this year.

A problem faced by conference organisers in many fields of law is that, when they seek to serialise a successful conference and put it on annually, they are giving a hostage to fortune to the gods of feast or famine. In some years there have been so many new developments, legislative initiatives and major judicial decisions that the two days allotted are scarcely adequate, while in other years it appears that there is little to report other than the rate at which the dust has settled on the previous year's novelties.  In recent years copyright has been kind to conference organisers, including IBC whose programme this is, by providing a constant fare of fascinating, challenging topics and rulings. No dust settles here.

It's not so many years ago that participants in this event were riveted by reports, analyses and speculations as to how The Pirate Bay and BitTorrenting would produce the ultimate showdown, a veritable High Noon with the recording industries. This topic has now gone remarkably quiet. Another copyright horror story, the Google Settlement, has shrunken from a top-billed topic to the fourth bullet-point in the US round-up presentation of the US Copyright Office General Counsel David O. Carson.

Some people make every
effort to outlive their
copyright term ...

Meanwhile, a number of "exes" have popped up. Extension of term for recordings and performers' rights looked dead in the water not so long ago, buried by the Gowers Review and evidence-based economic analysis -- but here it is, with a session to itself. Extension of artists' resale rights has clawed its way to prominence and a third "ex", "exhaustion" of rights and the (to Europeans) puzzling result of the US Supreme Court ruling in Costco. Other new topics include the consequences of the recent UK Meltwater litigation (is it really going to put the brake on browsing?), while current favourites which we can't ever get enough of are (i) how to handle rogue websites and (ii) practical solutions for resolving disputes.

This year's conference looks like being fun, with a great line-up of speakers under the expert chairmanship of Professor Adrian Sterling. Unfortunately I'll be unable to attend in person on account of clashing commitments, but this blog hopes to hear from some of its readers who are attending as to what gems of wisdom, what incisive analyses, what outrageous comments they have heard -- it w;; give is all plenty of food for thought before the end-of-year break makes puddings of our thought-processes ...

Full details of the conference programme and registration details are available here.

Creativity and copyright: the panel speaks ...

Georgina Hill (Open Book Publishers) has emailed me with the information that "Copyrights and Wrongs: The Impact of Copyright on the Arts and Authorship in the Digital Area", an event hosted by the British Academy on 27 October, featured a panel discussion on issues to do with copyright, especially in a digital age, in reference to creativity. This discussion has been recorded and is available on the British Academy website here.  Thanks, Georgina!

"Music and Intellectual Property": a conference and a competition

Well, someone's got
something to sing about ...

"Music and Intellectual Property" is the title of a one-day conference which CLT Conferences is running on 8 December in Central London. Subtitled "Identifying, Protecting and Enforcing Rights in Music", the programme features a double input from the 1709 Blog: Ben Challis (General Counsel, Glastonbury Festivals Ltd) speaks on "The Glastonbury Tales: the Practicalities of Festival Life and IP", while Jeremy Phillips takes the chair for the day. There are some other excellent speakers too, and the day promises to scintillate.  You can see the full programme here.

There's a competition running along with this conference, the prize being complimentary admission -- and the fabled free lunch. It goes like this. Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night opens with Duke Orsino saying

"If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it".

Your task is to complete the following sentence:

"If music be the food of love, then copyright is ..."

Closing date for entries is 17 November. Competition entries should be emailed to Jeremy at the 1709 Blog with the subject line "Food of love".

Copyright Future: Copyright Freedom

Today and tomorrow Australians are debating the future of copyright. The Copyright Future: Copyright Freedom conference was opened by Attorney-General Robert McClelland, who enjoined: ‘Copyright interests are often diametrically opposed. But that is no excuse for not seeking compromise and fair outcomes. In this respect, I see copyright as essentially about players acting in good faith.’ Speakers include Adrian Sterling and Lawrence Lessig and you can follow it all (live if you’re an early bird tomorrow) on twitter and blogs - here.

Programme here.