Friday, August 09, 2013

Social Media and Copyright Law in Conflict (UGC)

Project-disco.org, here

On the question of copyright infringement by hyperlink (in email)

Pearson Education, Inc. et Al., Plaintiffs, V. Lazar Ishayev and Yelena Leykina, No. 11 Civ. 5052 (PAE), here

A Century of International Potash Intrigue

Bloomberg.com, here

My Take on the WIPO Marrakesh Treaty/2

(Post n.1 here).

Paradoxically, perhaps, the question of an adequate protection of the rights to read of people with print disabilities became particularly pressing with the advent of the digital society.

For the general reading population, the pervasive deployment of information and communication technologies makes available many innovative and exciting ways in which copyright material can be enjoyed. The same technology has also pushed doors of opportunity open to provide new solutions to meet the needs of print disabled people. For instance, a visually impaired person can now take a traditional printed text and convert it to an accessible format by using main stream and increasingly affordable technology like Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software, scanning devices, screen readers or an electronic (refreshable) Braille display. Moreover, e-books hold the promise of providing greatly increased accessibility for print disabled persons compared to the analogue media. As it already happened in the past, new general purpose technology, i.e. innovations not conceived having the needs of specific categories of users in mind, can greatly benefit also the print disabled. Thus, Thomas Edison correctly anticipated in 1878 that the then newly conceived phonograph player would have led, eventually, to the availability of “[p]honographic books, which will speak to blind people without effort on their part.”

Even with our propitious technological advances, however, print disabled people still encounter significant difficulties in accessing written resources. Electronic texts, for instance, are often inaccessible because of the non-availability of specific text-to-speech or text-to-braille capabilities, or because of the need to buy dedicated, and often relatively expensive, equipment. Moreover, deliberate hardware limitations such as those found in popular e-readers hamper accessibility. Most importantly, whilst written materials today are commonly created as digital works, the formats employed by the publishing industry are seldom genuinely accessible, delaying or even blocking “off the shelf access” for the print disabled.

[This blog's "Feuilleton de l'été 2013" continues - possibly next week]

Francis Gurry on the occasion of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

Here.

Leistungsschutzrecht: Wie geht's jetzt weiter?

Telemedicus, hier

Minority Report? The EC’s public consultation on minority shareholdings

Kluwercompetitionlawblog.com, here

Google told German newspapers to opt in, and they did

Columbia Journalism Review, here

Thursday, August 08, 2013

My take on the WIPO Marrakesh Treaty/1

Hundreds of millions of people worldwide encounter severe distress in trying to access the written word in their education and private life. Only by employing appropriate technologies, such as for instance the method first developed by Louis Braille in 1829, written works can to be made accessible to people who suffer from print disabilities. The creation of accessible versions of copyrighted works and their distribution to the beneficiary persons, however, normally require the consent of the respective rightholders. 

Whilst international treaties and conventions in the area of intellectual property generally permit exceptions and limitations to the rights of the IP holder to be provided, their nature and scope have been largely left to national legislators to determine. By 1982, only seven member States of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) enacted provisions in that respect, and twenty-five years later exceptions and limitations for the benefit of print disabled person were present only in 57 member States - out of the then 184-strong overall membership.

According to a study commissioned by the Royal National Institute of the Blind and covering books published in the United Kingdom in the period  2004-2010, just some 7 per cent of them were accessible to blind people and others living with a print disability, 0.25 per cent of which  in traditional formats like hard copy braille and human voice audio, and 6.80 as accessible e-books.   Unsurprisingly, the situation is considered to be much worse in developing and least-developed countries, where the majority of persons with visual impairments or with other print disabilities live.

In 2006, the text of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) was adopted and entered into force two years later. The text of Convention strongly reaffirms the right to read for people with disability. The WIPO Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons who are Blind, Visually Impaired, or otherwise Print Disabled, concluded on June 27, 2013, aims at addressing the self-evident paucity of available works in accessible format copies (“book famine”). 

The newly adopted Treaty sets an elaborate international legal framework in the form of, first, an obligation for contracting parties to adopt in their respective national legislations exceptions and limitations that permit the reproduction, distribution and making available of published works in accessible formats. Second, the Treaty provides for the cross-border exchange of accessible format works created based on limitations and exceptions.

The Marrakesh Treaty takes a resolute step towards a more satisfactory balance between the print disabled persons’ legitimate need to access copyrighted works and the necessary protection of the rights of the copyright holders. The Treaty is also a première on the international stage, being the first multilateral, binding legal instrument primarily devoted to the establishment of exceptions and limitations in copyright law. In fact, much of the considerable efforts put into the development of the international copyright framework so far focused almost exclusively on defining and protecting the rights needed to promote the important aim of encouraging and rewarding creativity. Restriction or limitations upon authors justified by the broader “public interest” were almost exclusively left to national legislators, albeit within the boundaries set by the relevant treaties and conventions.

The so-called three-step test, arguably the most significant among those boundaries, took central stage throughout the nearly five years of arduous Treaty negotiations. The final text adopted in Marrakesh contains one direct reference to the test in the Preamble, two in Agreed statements, Article 5.4 deals with the so called "Berne gap", and Article 11 sets the obligation, for the Contracting Parties adopting the measures necessary to ensure the application of the Marrakesh Treaty,  to comply with the three-step test as formulated in the different international mandatory legal instruments under which they are bound. While the language of the three-step test has not changed since its original formulation in  the1967 Stockholm Revision of the Berne Convention, its interpretation remains highly controversial. In this respect, the adopted Treaty is also particularly relevant since it sheds some light on questions that timely, subsequent revisions of the Berne Convention should have already helped clarify.

(to be continued, hopefully soon; ACW).

For further material see the label visually impaired and copyright (actually a misnomer, in light of the final Treaty)

All future episodes here.

Public libraries and 'big six' publishers fight over e-books

Latimes.com, here

Understanding Behavioral Antitrust

A. Tor, here

The Value of User-Generated Content

Turner Hopkins (for Ofcom), here

Amazon, Kobo and Sony petition FCC to exempt e-readers from accessibility laws

Gigaom.com, here

Publishers in E-Book Antitrust Case File Objection to DOJ's Proposed Punishment for Apple

Here

Monday, July 22, 2013

Introduction effects of the Australian plain packaging policy on adult smokers: a cross-sectional study

M. Wakefield, L. Hayes, S. Durkin, R. Borland, here

EU Kills Net Neutrality, Threatens Online Openness

G. Moody, here

Legal aspects of free and open source software - compilation of briefing notes

European Parliament, here

Statutory Audit Services: Provisional Remedy Package

UK Competition Commission, here

Protecting Shared and Widely Distributed Traditional Knowledge: Issues, challenges and options

International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, here

Adventures in the Netherlands - Spotify, Piracy and the new Dutch experience

Spotify, here

Issues for Two-Sided Platforms in Canadian Competition Law

G. Bishop, here

e-books: Vertical participation in hub and spoke agreements

Competition Bulletin, here

Becker on reforming the patent system

Becker-Posner blog, here.

BGH: UsedSoft

Pressemitteilung hier.

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Competition in the Context of Financial Crisis

American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law 60th Spring Meeting, the Antitrust source,here.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

AG Jääskinen on search engines and lack of responsibility for personal data appearing on web pages they process

Case C-131/12, Google Spain SL, Google Inc. v Agencia Española de Protección de Datos, here

Behavioural Economics and Competition Policy

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets, here (pdf file). Oxera Report (pdf file), here

European Publishers, Others Slam Google On “Abusive” Practices, Ask EC To Reject Google Proposal

TechCrunch.com, here

New Draft Text Shows Progress On WIPO Treaty On Books For The Print-Disabled

Ip-watch.org, here

“Reverse Payment” Settlements Subject to Greater Antitrust Scrutiny: Implications of Supreme Court FTC v. Actavis Ruling

McDermott, Will & Emery, here

Engagements pour mettre fin à l'« inertie du marché »: Fret maritime Europe-Antilles

Autorité de la Concurrence, ici

Commissioner Wright Moves to Advance Discussion on FTC Act Section 5

A. Murino, here

The Fate of Apple and Antitrust: Overcoming Confusion About the eBooks Case

C. Sagers, here

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Supreme Court Says Human Genes Aren't Patentable

Online.wsj.com, here

First comment on the Commission's proposed directive on antitrust damage action

P. Buccirossi, here

Institutional experimentation? The integration of competion law and regulation enforcement in Spain

F. Marcos, J. Mora-Sanguinetti, here

Emerging Economies: Different Economic Problems, Same Competition Law?

S. Ennis, Presentation here 

The UK Competition and Markets Authority: a new institution to tackle a new set of challenges

A. Chrisholm, here

EU unlocks a great new source of online innovation (open data)

N. Kroes, here

EU Commission explores copyright questions related to data mining

Futureofcopyright.com, here

Wettbewerb: Preiskartelle überall?

Wirtschaftsdienst.eu, hier

US Chamber letter to USPTO opposes fair use, expresses "concerns" about WIPO treaty for blind

Keionline.org, here

Friday, June 07, 2013

British booksellers call on government to follow France in fight against Amazon

Mhpbooks.com, here

Draft legislation on copyright exceptions in the UK

Ipo.gov.uk, here.
Drafts for the other exceptions will be released as soon as they are ready.

Télévision payante: trois offres de référence de Groupe Canal Plus approuvées

Autorité de la concurrence, ici

Alegaciones de la Conferencia de Rectores a la reforma de la Ley de Propiedad Intelectual

Crue.org, aquì.

Vollständiger Ausschluss der Akteneinsicht (auch gegenüber dem Kronzeugen) verstößt gegen EU-Recht

L. Maritzen, hier (Kartellblog.de).

Members of Congress call on FTC to prosecute patent trolls

TheVerge.com, here

Student Privacy in the Cloud Computing Ecosystem

Berkman Center for Internet & Society, here

Erste Lesung des Gesetzes zur Nutzung verwaister und vergriffener Werke

Urheberrecht.org, hier

App Developers File Amicus Brief in Support of Google

Groklaw.net, here

Defending an Open, Global, Secure, and Resilient Internet

Council of Foreign Relations, here (pdf file).

Thursday, June 06, 2013

A Puzzling Graph on eBook Prices and the DOJ Case

J. Gans, here

CJEU on action for damages and access to the file

Case C‑536/11, Bundeswettbewerbsbehörde v Donau Chemie AG et al., here

Pallante, Goodlatte Lay Framework For US Copyright Review

Ip-watch.org, here

EU kann sich nicht auf Novelle zu Datenschutz einigen

Zeit.de, hier

Australia wants fair use (and so will you?)

Ipkat.com, here

Believe it or not: Your social media information can be a trade secret

Wraltechwire.com, here

Creating an open database of public art in Sweden

Blog.wikimedia.org, here

Publishers Tell of Disputes With Apple on E-Book Prices

Nytimes.com, here

Concorrenza e crisi: audizione di Pitruzzella alla Camera

Qui.

Patent Assertion Entities and Antitrust: Operating Company Patent Transfers

M. Popofsky and M. Laufert, here

Meet the man who created the 'linchpin' of Apple's e-book strategy

Tech.fortune.cnn.com, here

Obama faces high stakes dilemma in Apple-Samsung battle

Ft.com, here

Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Brief of Digital Humanities and Law Scholars as Amici Curiae in Authors Guild v. Hathitrust

M. Jockers, M. Sag, J. Schultz, here

HathiTrust: Amici Curiae Brief of Beneficient Technology and Learning Ally

Here

Leaked mandate for EU-US trade deal opens floodgate to lawsuits by corporations

Corporateeurope.org, here

The Future of Books and Libraries in the Electronic Age

R. Picker, here (Video, at 35:02).

Tensions grow as data-mining discussions fall apart

Nature.com, here.

The Case for Fair Use in Australia

Australian Law Reform Commission, here

MS on White House "Patent Trolls" Proposal

Blogs.technet.com, here

Towards Empirical Analysis Of Open Government Data Initiatives

B. Ubaldi, OECD Working Papers on Public Governance, here

Council Draft Compromise Text on the Proposed EU Data Protection Regulation

Huntonprivacyblog.com, here

Kommunale Monopole sind gute Monopole, die keinerlei Aufsicht bedürfen

J. Haucap (Edgeworthblogs.wordpress.com), hier

Simple but Wrong or Complex but More Accurate? The Case for an Exclusive Dealing‐Based Approach to Evaluating Loyalty Discounts

J. Wright, here

Court Says Copying Journal Articles To Show Prior Art In Patent Proceedings Is Fair Use

Techdirt.com, here

ITC on Apple patent infringement and import prohibition

Inv. No. 337-TA-794, here

PwC: the U.S. consumer ebook market will be bigger than the print book market by 2017

PaidContent.org, here

Pfizer's slams India's patent regime, says Indian standards are vague and malleable

Economictimes.indiatimes.com, here

Le ministère de la Culture s’intéresse au marché de l’occasion numérique

Pcinpact.com, here

Tuesday, June 04, 2013

President Obama Comes Out Strongly Against Patent Trolls; Here Are The Details

TechDirt.com, here

Library Copyright Alliance files amicus brief in HathiTrust case

Here

Avances en el programa de clemencia

Expansion.com, aquì

Protecting innovators from frivolous litigation and ensuring the highest-quality patents

White House Task Force On High-Tech Patent Issues, here

US v. Apple - DOJ Opening Statement

Here

What sort of disruption of broadcasters' distribution can be disrupted?

Taylorwessing.com, here

Device From Israeli Start-Up Gives the Visually Impaired a Way to Read

Nytimes.com, here. OrCam's promotional video here

Amid reports of new Apple streaming music service, antitrust violation may be obstacle

Washingtonpost.com, here

World Blind Union Response To The Business Lobby Against The Proposed Wipo Treaty For Visually Impaired People

Worldblindunion.org, here (Word file)

Rapport Lescure : du positif pour le livre numérique en bibliothèque

Bibliobsession.net, ici

The EU, safeguarding the open internet for all

N. Kroes, here

Request for an Advisory Opinion from the EFTA Court on PSI fee determination

Here

White House effort to take aim at 'patent trolls'

Politico.com, here

Innovative but influential: The OFT’s economic research programme

A. Fletcher, here (p. 6 f.).

Carrier: Classic Antitrust/IP Scholarship

Writtendescription.blogspot.com, here

Die Kommission sammelt sich in Sachen Sammelklagen – nicht nur im Kartellrecht

Kartellblog.de, hier

Using the Antitrust Laws to Police Patent Privateering

Patentlyo.com, here

Apple lawyers put judge in ebook antitrust case on defensive

TheVerge.com, here