Case C-169/15, Montis Design – EU copyright and Benelux design formalities, a game of musical chairs?

When a company owns the Benelux rights in the design of a chair but then it fails to maintain the registration of its Benelux rights under Benelux law, can a rival company still be stopped from making similar chairs because of the links between the old Benelux law and current EU law? More specifically, what is the relationship between Benelux rights and the EU’s ‘term of protection’ Directive 93/98/EEC?

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Case C-610/15, Stichting Brein – seeking website blocks to stop peer to peer technology

People may use telecoms networks to pass information to each other. Some websites such as that run by The Pirate Bay allow people to download software that enables them to pass small pieces of information around a telecoms network. The question in this case is whether a Dutch court can order telecoms companies to block their customers’ access to websites like The Pirate Bay in order to stop presumed copyright infringement from taking place.

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Case C-174/15, Vereniging Openbare Bibliotheken – ebooks via Dutch public libraries

Like public libraries the world over, Dutch libraries lend materials from their collections to the public. However, those materials may be protected by copyright. Consequently, Dutch law requires Dutch libraries to pay money to the copyright holders every single time a book is lent. The legal question in this case is whether that obligation extends to an ‘e-book’, and the answer depends on the word ‘lending’ in the EU’s ‘rental and lending rights’ Directive 2006/115/EC.

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Case C-490/14, Verlag Esterbauer – a map is not a database

Is a map a database? The EU’s Database Directive 96/9/EC requires a database to be ‘a collection of independent works … or other materials …’. It is a phrase which has already been interpreted by the CJEU in its earlier ‘sporting fixtures’ case law but now it is not clear whether the CJEU’s reasoning also brings a map within the scope of EU database law.

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Case C-470/14, EGEDA – will a state-financed ‘private copy’ scheme deliver fair compensation?

According to Article 5(2)(b) of the EU’s InfoSoc Directive 2001/29/EC, copyright holders can be paid ‘fair compensation’ for the copies of protected works made by people for private use. In some Member States this type of scheme is financed by levies on electronic equipment. However, Spain has decided to pay right holders directly from the state budget. Spanish copyright ‘collecting societies’ do not like this, and claim that the scheme contravenes EU law.

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Case C-117/13, Technische Universität Darmstadt – introducing modern EU copyright law

When a university library scans a book to permit the electronic reading of a book, can the book’s publisher put a stop to this unauthorised reproduction? And can a German university successfully invoke a ‘library’ exception enshrined in the EU’s InfoSoc Directive 2001/29?

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Case C-201/13, Johan Deckmyn – parody in EU law

Belgium has a tradition of creating comic book figures. Tintin is perhaps the most famous comic book character but another popular comic strip chronicles the adventures of ‘Spike and Suzy’ [Suske and Wiske]. Comic books can be protected by copyright. In this reference, the issue is whether the right holders can stop a political party from circulating a picture that spoofs the cover of a Spike and Suzy story.

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Case C-521/11, Amazon – Austrian private-copy ‘fair compensation’ and EU copyright law

Is the private-copy levy system of Austrian copyright law compatible with the EC’s InfoSoc Directive 2001/29 when national law: (a) puts the levy on all blank recording-media irrespective of whether the media are marketed to intermediaries, to natural or legal persons and for use other than for private purposes; (b) offers refunds in some circumstances but not others; and (c), only pays authors half of the net ‘fair compensation’ monies collected and gives away the other half to Austrian cultural organisations?

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