Case Law

The Court of Appeal confirmed that playing phonograms in a night club requires authorisation from and payment to the relevant right holders (performers and artists). On the question of damages, the…

In this case, the Supreme Court of Estonia analyses the concept of the “hypothetical licence fee” under the Estonian Copyright Act, in accordance with Article 13(1)b) of the EU Enforcement Directive…

 The exceptions for reporting of current events and quotation facilitate the functioning of the media. On 27 July 2017, the Bundesgerichtshof (BGH) submitted several questions to the Court of Justice…

 The legal battle over who has the copyright claim to the pictures taken by a monkey has finally come to an end. The monkey self-portrait (“selfie”) dispute is a series of much discussed legal…

A jewelry designer’s "Buddha’s Kiss" earring was entitled only to "thin" copyright protection because there were a limited number of ways to design an earring containing the work’s single protectable…

Whether taste constitutes protectable subject-matter under EU copyright law is one of the questions which the CJEU will have to answer in the near future. Indeed, the Dutch Court of Appeals of Arnhem…

The federal district court in Oakland did not err in rejecting conversion of intellectual property and other claims brought by the sons of late rock-and-roll concert-promoter Bill Graham against the…

Decision of the German Bundesgerichtshof of April 27, 2017, file no. I ZR 247/15: “AIDA Kussmund” (“AIDA Kissmouth”) In “AIDA Kissmouth”, the German Bundesgerichtshof (“BGH”), Germany’s highest civil…

As we enter a new year, we would like to take this opportunity to pass on our best wishes for 2018 to all of our readers, as well as reflect on developments in copyright over the past year.  Last…