Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Read Any Good Web Sites Lately? Book Lovers Talk Online

Nytimes.com, here

Which countries receive the most in royalty and license fees?

World Bank, here.

Pratiques anticoncurrentielles dans le secteur de l'abattage et de la commercialisation du porc charcutier sanctionnées

Autorité de la concurrence, ici

La farmacia en el supermercado

ElPais, aquì

Spanish Tribunal Supremo on "screen scraping"

RYANAIR LIMITED v  ATRAPALO, S.L, here (Spanish).

Dutch government will end protection of non-original works to modernise copyright law

Futureofcopyright.com, here

Oracle vs Google legal war begins a new chapter

Newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com, here

Materials from the GCLC lunch talk on Google

ChillingCompetition.com, here

FRAND, RAND, and SEP: Why These Acronyms Are Important

Techpolicy.com, here

BGH legt EuGH Frage zum technischen Schutz von Schutzmaßnahmen für Videospiele vor

Institut für Urheber- und Medienrecht, hier

Mining the Digital Gold Rush: The Legal (L)ore around France’s Data-Mining Tax

Iposgoode.ca, here

Yelp Defeats Legal Challenge to Its User Review Filter

E. Goldman, here

Monday, February 11, 2013

Responses of Creative Commons to House of Lords comments concerning the CC BY license

Here

U.S. appeals judges quiz lawyers on rules for patenting software

Newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com, here

Access and the Public Domain

R. Picker, here.

Of particular interest to me is how broad access issues are likely to shape the "scale and scope of competition in the provision of the public domain". 

Efectos del carácter restrictivo de la normativa comercial sobre la competitividad de la economía catalana

Autoritat Catalana de la Competència, aquí.

IP, Antitrust and Looking Back on the Last Four Years

R. Hesse, here

EU antitrust control and patent abuses

M. Mariniello, here (Video, 6:58).

Counting couch potatoes

TheEconomist, here

L'Open Data fragilisé par le droit sur les bases de données

Numerama.com, ici

LobbyPlag - Wie Konzerne Gesetze diktieren

Heute.de, hier

Antitrust Litigation: What’s Changed in Twenty-Five Years?

W. Kolasky, here

Innovation Nation at War (Posner and patents)

Nytimes.com, here

Un passo indietro per il software libero

A. Meo, qui

“Students are heavily dependent on studying from photocopies”

Thehindu.com, here

EU Personal Data Protection "Reform Package":Tracking Lobbyists' Influence

Europlag.eu, here. See also the background article to this project here (German).

Friday, February 08, 2013

IFLA Principles for Library eLending

Here

What Software Is Patentable? Federal Court To Consider In CLS Bank Rehearing

TechCrunch.com, here

Macmillan settles with DOJ, and Apple is last man standing in ebook pricing case

PaidContent.org, here.

Interesting to academia and beyond:
"Electronic versions of academic textbooks” are removed from the settlement’s “requirements and prohibitions” because the DOJ antitrust case focused only on trade books.

The Digital Economy

OECD, Competition Committee, DAF/COMP(2012)22, here.

Coup de coeur: the French contribution to the October 2011 hearing, p. 75 ff.

Google, the ACCC and the High Court

Core Economics, here

La BnF accusée de privatiser des oeuvres du domaine public

Lexpress.fr, ici

Charlottesville anti-drone resolution sparks similar action across US

Wired.co.uk, here

Protection of personal data

ECHR, Factsheet, here

Court of Appeal takes a punt on database rights

The1709blog.blogspot.com, here

Monday, February 04, 2013

Efforts to Update and Strengthen Privacy Law in Europe and the United States

Letter from prominent US consumer and civil liberties organizations to US government leaders, here

New Year, New Project: Turning the Focus to Competition Policy for 2013

E. Pérez Motta, here

The Patent Policy Debate in the High Tech World: A Literature Review

K. Gupta, here

Leistungsschutzrecht für Presseverlage: Müsste Google wirklich zahlen? – eine kartellrechtliche Analyse

C. Kersting, S. Dworschak, hier

Market Dominance and Quality of Search Results in the Search Engine Market

I. Lianos, E. Motchenkova, here

Irish High Court Order following FitFlop investigation involving allegations of resale price maintenance

Competition Authority Press Release, here

The Nature of Competition in the Digital Age

Techliberation.com, ici

Numérisation à la BnF : comment la France se fait rouler

ActuaLitté.com, ici

Europe Moves Ahead on Privacy

NYTimes.com, here

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Ireland deputy data protection Commissioner to take up Apple job

Irishtimes.com, here.

The Patent-Antitrust Interface: Are There Any No-No’s Today?

Venable.com, here

New Year Will See More Policing of Patent Conduct By US and EU Competition Agencies

Skadden.com, here

Ed O'Bannon vs. the NCAA: The antitrust lawsuit explained

Sbnation.com, here

PRIVATE ACTIONS IN COMPETITION LAW: A consultation on options for reform - government response

UK Government, here

OFT chief calls for more competitive banking sector

Telegraph.co.uk, here

EU Commission sends Statement of Objections to J&J and Novartis on delayed entry of generic pain-killer

Press Release, here.

Recommendations Resulting from the Mediation on Private Copying And Reprography Levies

A. Vitorino, here

What's wrong with data protection?

A Greens/EFA hearing, January 31, 2013, here (archived video available here).
Stallman:  neither using most of the available Internet services, nor possessing a mobile phone...too dangerous, he says. 

Open Access versus Traditional Journal Pricing: Using a Simple “Platform Market” Model to Understand Which Will Win (and Which Should)


M. McCabe, C. Snyder A. Fagin, here.

Digital music rights - Baby got backlash

TheEconomist.com, here

Friday, January 25, 2013

SAS Institute/World Programming: UK Ruling After The Reference

[2013] EWHC 69 (Ch), Justice Arnold, here.
You can read my brief paper here for some background information.

U.S. firms, officials resisting Europe’s push for stronger digital privacy rules

WashingtonPost.com, here.

Cloud computing, cookies y protección de datos

Seminario APEP-Derechotics, Audios aquì

Bundesgerichtshof erkennt Schadensersatz für den Ausfall eines Internetanschlusses

Bundesgerichtshof III ZR 98/12, Pressemitteilung hier.
Aus der Pressemitteilung: 
"...Nach der Rechtsprechung des Bundesgerichtshofs muss der Ersatz für den Ausfall der Nutzungsmöglichkeit eines Wirtschaftsguts grundsätzlich Fällen vorbehalten bleiben, in denen sich die Funktionsstörung typischerweise als solche auf die materiale Grundlage der Lebenshaltung signifikant auswirkt"...."Demgegenüber hat der Senat dem Kläger dem Grunde nach Schadensersatz für den Fortfall der Möglichkeit zuerkannt, seinen Internetzugang für weitere Zwecke als für den Telefon- und Telefaxverkehr zu nutzen. Die Nutzbarkeit des Internets ist ein Wirtschaftsgut, dessen ständige Verfügbarkeit seit längerer Zeit auch im privaten Bereich für die eigenwirtschaftliche Lebenshaltung typischerweise von zentraler Bedeutung ist. Das Internet stellt weltweit umfassende Informationen in Form von Text-, Bild-, Video- und Audiodateien zur Verfügung. Dabei werden thematisch nahezu alle Bereiche abgedeckt und verschiedenste qualitative Ansprüche befriedigt. So sind etwa Dateien mit leichter Unterhaltung ebenso abrufbar wie Informationen zu Alltagsfragen bis hin zu hochwissenschaftlichen Themen. Dabei ersetzt das Internet wegen der leichten Verfügbarkeit der Informationen immer mehr andere Medien, wie zum Beispiel Lexika, Zeitschriften oder Fernsehen. Darüber hinaus ermöglicht es den weltweiten Austausch zwischen seinen Nutzern, etwa über E-Mails, Foren, Blogs und soziale Netzwerke. Zudem wird es zunehmend zur Anbahnung und zum Abschluss von Verträgen, zur Abwicklung von Rechtsgeschäften und zur Erfüllung öffentlich-rechtlicher Pflichten genutzt. Der überwiegende Teil der Einwohner Deutschlands bedient sich täglich des Internets. Damit hat es sich zu einem die Lebensgestaltung eines Großteils der Bevölkerung entscheidend mitprägenden Medium entwickelt, dessen Ausfall sich signifikant im Alltag bemerkbar macht."
Volltext hier

Antitrust's Democracy Deficit

H. First, S. Weber Waller, here

Fair Use 2.0: The Rebirth of Fair Dealing in Canada

A. Katz, here

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Vie privée : Les entreprises US gagnent en commission "consommateurs" au Parlement européen

Laquadrature.net, ici.
Avis de la Commission Marché intérieur et protection des consommateurs ici.

Georgia State and Fair Use: Copyright on Appeal

K. Crews, here

Google and the FTC: the implications

Econsultancy.com, here

The Sky Is Rising 2 - Regional Study: Germany, France, UK, Italy, Russia, Spain

Techdirt.com, here.

The European Commission vs. Gazprom: An Issue of Fair Competition or a Foreign Policy Quarrel?

N. Sartori, here

Elargissement du domaine de l'exception pédagogique envisagé en France

Actualitte.com, ici

MPI on the Proposal for a Collective Management of Copyright and Related Rights

Here

Leistungsschutzrecht – nein danke!

J. Haucap, hier

Albrecht Draft Report on the Right to Data Portability: Blurring the Legal Contours?

A much debated element of the EU Personal Data Protection reform package is the proposal to introduce a right to data portability, as put forth in Article 18 of the draft Regulation.

Art. 8(2) of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights states that” everyone has the right of access to data which has been collected concerning him or her, and the right to have it rectified.” Pursuant to Article 12 of the currently applicable Data Protection Directive, individuals already have the right to access their personal data, and in particular to obtain from the data controller communication “in an intelligible form of the data undergoing processing,” but the form of the communication is not specified, and the way in which that right can be exercised varies considerably from country to country within the EU, and access has become particularly challenging especially in connection with the online environment.

Pursuant to the proposed Art.18 of the Regulation, data subjects could, first, obtain a copy of their personal data “processed by electronic means and in a structured and commonly used format.” The copy itself must be “an electronic and structured format which is commonly used and allows for further use by the data subject.” Further, individuals would be granted the explicit right to transfer “personal data and any other information provided by the data subject and retained by an automated processing system” into another automated processing system “where the data subject has provided the personal data and the processing is based on consent or on a contract.” The transfer should be “without hindrance by the controller”, and data should be “in an electronic format which is commonly used.”Article 18(3) gives the Commission the power to specify the electronic format and the "technical standards, modalities and procedures for the transmission of personal data.”

Art. 18 should be read against the background of Article 15 of the draft Regulation, that provides for the “general” right of access for the data subject. Article 15 states that the data subject has the right to obtain from the controller communication of the personal data undergoing processing, but the main difference is that Article 18 specifically deals with the condition for reuse of the data, by the data subject herself and/or by another automated processing system.

As seen above, Art. 18(2) introduces the right to export personal data and other information provided by data subject to another service “without hindrance” by the controller. It is not clear, however, if this would involve an affirmative obligation on the controller to transfer data directly to another service, i.e. to provide for some degree of interoperability between electronic processing systems. The data that the individual has the right to trasfer should be in electronic form. As mentioned before, the Regulation would give the Commission the power to specify the electronic format and the further technical requirements for allowing the transmission of personal data.

The contours of the data portability right as foreseen by Article 18 of the draft Regulation are not totally clear, though, in particular because most of the critical “technicalities” (i.e. electronic format and the technical standards, modalities and procedures for the transmission of personal data) are left to later clarifications by the Commission. In this highly sensitive area, however, negative implications on innovation processes should be carefully avoided by abstaining from imposing microregulation on technological solutions to ensure data portability. Moreover, in the rather remote event that the language of Article 18 remains largely unaffected by the various negotiation phases the reform package is currently going through, the effectiveness of the new right will critically depend on the interpretation of rather vague legal concepts like “without hindrance.”

Even more uncertainty could be the result of the negotiations surrounding the reform package, though. A good example of this is the amendment proposal put forth by the rapporteur for the European Parliament's Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (“Albrecht Draft Report"). According to the proposal, Article 18 should be merged with Article 15. The Albrecht draft, however, blurrs the legal contours of the right to export personal data and other information to another service even further, in so far as it foresees that the right should be exercised “where technically feasible and appropriate”. The critical change in the text would appear to be at least partially in line with the amendments suggested by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and already contained in the Draft Opinion of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy for the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.

Verordnung zur Markttransparenzstelle fertig

Brennstoffspiegel.de, hier

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

The EU's Opportunity to Enhance Privacy in a More Competitive Market

Huffingtonpost.com, here

Library services in the digital age

Pew Report, here

All You Need to Know about the EU Privacy Debate

Spiegel.de, here

The 20p e-book is starting to reshape the e-book market

Futurebook.net, here

Google vs. the press: avoiding the lose-lose scenario

F. Filloux, here

3D Digitisation and Intellectual Property Rights

JISCLegal, here

Stellungnahme als Sachverständiger zum Entwurf eines Siebenten Gesetzes zur Änderung des Urheberrechtsgesetzes

T. Stadler, hier

US position paper regarding the proposed EU protection framework.

Made available by EDRI.org, here (pdf file). 

Five Reasons Why U.S. Consumer NGOs Support a Strong EU Privacy Law

Center for Digital Democracy and Consumer Federation of America, here (Word file). 

US Privacy groups lobby EU to crack down on Web companies

Thehill.com, here

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Driving prosperity through effective competition

R. Sims, here

Justice Ministers review feasibility of 'right to be forgotten' among other proposed data protection reforms

Out-law.com, here

Google, Facebook, Amazon, eBay: Is the Internet Driving Competition or Market Monopolization?

J. Haucap and U. Heimeshoff, here

The recording industry association of New Zealand responds to Dotcom piracy plan

Nzherald.co.nz, here

Competition on the Internet

Post-Doc Conference, Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law, Munich, 22 February 2013, Programme here. See also the concept paper to the conference, here

Lawmaker Releases Draft of App Privacy Bill

Adweek.com, here

Is the book a crucial cultural artifact, or just an outdated container for content?

   PaidContent, here.

  

Data Protection reform and cross-border Insolvency law prioritised by EU Ministers

Irish EU Presidency, here

Friday, January 18, 2013

Economic Research into Regulatory Restrictions in the Legal Profession

A Report for the Office of Fair Trading by Europe Economics, here.

Selon la Cour de Cassation, un constructeur n'a pas à justifier le numerus clausus de son réseau

Pro.largus.fr, ici. Arrêt "Jaguar" ici

Non à la privatisation du domaine public par la Bibliothèque nationale de France !

Laquadrature.net, ici

Stellungnahme zum Entwurf eines Siebenten Gesetzes zur Änderung des Urheberrechtsgesetzes

G. Spindler, hier

Release of Confidential Cartel Information by European Commission to English High Court Suspended

McDermott Will & Emery, here

Social media and trademarks: an anthropological approach

E. Goldman, Presentation here

Is Location Based Advertising The Future Of Mobile Marketing And Mobile Advertising?

Forbes.com, here

L'abandon du droit d'auteur lors de la mise en ligne de photographies sur internet

Legavox.fr, ici

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Are The Days Of The $14.99 Ebook Numbered?

Forbes.com, here

Neutralité du Net

N. Kroes, ici

Facebook and the future of search

Newyorker.com, here

Informe para promover la competencia en el sector del transporte público interurbano regular permanente de viajeros de uso general por carretera en Andalucía.

Consejo de Defensa de la Competencia de Andalucía, aquì.

Happy Birthday AAI: No ECI (European Competition Institute) in sight yet?

On AAI celebrations read commentary from AAI President Bert Foer, here

Numérisation à la BnF: Google et la British Library, plus respectueux

Actualitte.com, ici

Facebook Search Could Actually Be Great for Google (Why? Antitrust.)

Allthingsd.com, here

Copy Culture in the US and Germany

The American Assembly, Columbia University, here

Friday, January 11, 2013

Privacy on the Go


California AG, here.

Taxe Google : Filippetti fixe un ultimatum en janvier

Bfmtv.com, ici

What Businesses Need to Know About the FTC’s Settlement With Google

Jonesday.com, here

USTR holds NGO briefing on TPP negotiations

Keionline.org, here

DOJ and USPTO join FTC in urging Caution before Granting SEP Injunctions

Consortiuminfo.org, here

Technology of Privacy

Silicon Flatirons Center, University of Colorado Law School, Friday, January 11, 2013; 9:15 AM - 6:00 PM (17:15 - 02:00 Trento time), live stream url here

Fighting cyber crime and protecting privacy in the cloud

European Parliament, here

Public domain - Access denied

The Economist, here

Engaging economists in the ICN: Uniting under a common language

M. Mandorff, here

Climbing Mount Everest with the ICN Unilateral Conduct Working Group

C. Lewis Lagdameo, here

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Australia Says 'Let's Update Copyright For The Digital Economy;' Legacy Industries Say 'Let's Pretend It's Still 1968'

Techdirt.com, here.

A Few Reflections on the FTC’s Decision on Google

D. Evans, here.

Just because something has value doesn't mean it has a price

Guardian.co.uk, here.

POLICY STATEMENT ON REMEDIES FOR STANDARDS-ESSENTIAL PATENTS SUBJECT TO VOLUNTARY F/RAND COMMITMENTS

DOJ and USPTO, here.

FTC's Google Settlement a "Third Way" Approach for Antitrust Enforcement

Forbes.com, here.

Overview and Issues for Implementation of the Federal Cloud Computing Initiative: Implications for Federal Information Technology Reform Management

US Congressional Research Service, here.

Albrecht Report on Personal Data Protection

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, Draft Report on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of individual with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, here.

Buffy vs Edward Remix Unfairly Removed by Lionsgate

Rebelliouspixels.com, here.

Friday, January 04, 2013

National Newspapers of Ireland on the display and transmission of links and copyright law

EU says its Google case not affected by U.S. ruling

Reuters.com, here

Antitrust Enforcement in High-Technology Industries: Protecting Innovation and Competition

F. Scott-Morton, here

AAI's Statement on FTC and Google

B. Foer, here

The Geo-Politics of Personal Data

C. Bennett, here

How Google beat the feds

Politico.com, here

Explained: the mechanics of the FTC Google consent order on standard-essential patents

F. Mueller, here

Not with a Bang

J. Grimmelmann, here. And the Follow-Up specifically on Google's promise not to retaliate for opting out of commercial search : Devils and Details, here