Huťko´s IT & IP legal blog

Newspaper articles not creative enough. An issue for the CJEU?

2012-01-24T13:42:00.000+01:00

Kluwer Copyright blog just published my article about ECOPRESS v. STORIN, which denied copyright protection on newspaper articles (reported by IPKat here). In article, I outline the background of the case, give some comments on compatibility with last European cases and mention that our European Information Society Institute, is now preparing amicus curiae brief before the Supreme Court with

Czech Constitutional Court Gives Another Decision on Data Retention

2012-01-05T10:54:00.000+01:00

On Wednesday (4.1.), the Constitutional Court of Czech republic delivered its second decision on data retention (see the first here). This time, it concerns unconstitutionality of the procedure of obtaining the data stored on the basis of the data retention laws. The Court found the procedure in question to be too vague, in breach of proportionality rule (its second step) and thus

Slovak Court System is Now More Open

2012-01-02T13:02:00.000+01:00

On 1st of January 2012, Ministry of Justice of Slovak republic finally launched its main project - obligatory online publication of all court decisions. The project is now available online here and you can suggest any changes here. Court decisions were previously published within the JASPI system and on the website of the Supreme Court, nevertheless this was not really proper and lot of

European Originality Doctrine - Another Step Further?

2011-12-15T15:55:00.003+01:00

Story of European originality concept seems to be evolving with every possible court case. For those who don´t know what I am talking about, a brief summary first. CJEU first in Infopaq C-5/08 expanded Union law concept of originality to the other works that photographs, databases and computer programs, which have their own directives. Later in BSA C-393/09 and Football Association Premier

Frisdranken Case: Another Bit on ´Intermediary Non-use´ of the Trade Mark

2011-12-15T12:46:00.000+01:00

Today, the Court of Justice of the European Union decided very interesting trade mark case - Frisdranken Industrie Winters BV C-119/10, which deals with the question of whether intermediary companies, such as a service provider who, under an order from and on the instructions of another person, fills packaging which was supplied to it by the other person, use the trade mark within the meaning

Thanksgiving gift from Luxembourg - Sabam!

2011-11-24T16:52:00.001+01:00

Huťko is very happy to inform you that the Court of Justice of the European Union just rendered its superb decision in Sabam C‑70/10. Not only it is favorable to "internet freedoms", but to Huťko's great surprise, it is also based on different, but even better reasoning (the court actually discussed the balance between IP-rights and other rights). I have no hesitation to say that this is

AG´s Opinion in Bonnier Audio Published

2011-11-17T11:41:00.001+01:00

The Curia just published Advocate's General opinion in Bonnier Audio C-461/10. English version is however not available. Advocate General Jääskinen suggests that (in German) Nach alledem schlage ich dem Gerichtshof vor, auf die Vorlagefragen des Högsta domstol wie folgt zu antworten: Die Richtlinie 2006/24/EG des Europäischen Parlaments und des Rates vom 15. März 2006 über die

Functionality & Expression-Idea Dichotomy Under New European Doctrine of ´Work´

2011-11-11T12:12:00.001+01:00

Some of readers might be aware of a pending copyright case Oracle v. Google in the United States. It looks like Oracle is trying to rely on copyright protection of the following subject matter (quoted from Groklaw): .. its "selection, arrangement and structure" of elements in the APIs described by the 37 API specifications .. Google contends that .. much, if not all, of what Oracle is

Hidden Gems of L'Oreal v. eBay

2011-11-07T23:21:00.001+01:00

Some of you might be wondering why Huťko did not report on two most interesting CJEU cases of this beautiful summer - L´Oréal v. eBay C-324/09 and Interflora C-323/09. The main reason is the complexity of said cases. Summing them up in two separate articles would be just not enough to cover everything. And after all, they both have been so widely reported and analyzed. Therefore, Huťko decided

Messing Up With 'Krteček'

2011-11-01T23:25:00.000+01:00

Czech server Aktualne.cz reports that a toy producer, and exclusive licensee, who is producing various goods depicting main character from the Czech cartoon 'The Mole' (Krteček) (on the right) just won the case before Supreme Court of Czech republic (23 Cdo 2500/2010) initiated against a company which was selling the confusingly similar toys without any license from the copyright owner - Zdeněk

European Cases on Ordering ISPs to Block Certain Websites

2011-11-01T13:35:00.000+01:00

In the last few months, Huťko noticed exponential rise of the cases that demanded access providers to render certain infringing websites inaccessible to its subscribers. The legal basis is usually national counterpart of the Art. 8(3) of the InfoSoc directive, which provides that "Member States shall ensure that rightholders are in a position to apply for an injunction against intermediaries

Five Interesting & Quite New CJEU Cases

2011-10-28T22:32:00.000+02:00

Some recent and interesting IT&IP cases from Luxemburg. Pierre Fabre Dermo-Cosmétique C‑439/09. This relatively unknown decision is actually one of the most important developments of the competition law when it comes to the internet. With AG prof. Mazák, Third Chamber of the Court of Justice held that Article 101(1) TFEU must be interpreted as meaning that, in the context of a selective

BGH & Two ISP Liability Cases

2011-10-28T14:06:00.001+02:00

This week, Bundesgerichtshof decided two very interesting cases that both concern liability of internet service providers. The first, deals with liability of German domain name authority - DENIC and second with liability of Google for the blog posts published by its users on blogging platform Blogger (the one that Huťko writes his posts on). In regierung-oberfranken.de case (I ZR 131/10),

Court of Justice Speaks on 'Informed User'

2011-10-21T11:34:00.000+02:00

Yesterday, the Court of Justice of the European Union handed its first important design matter case - PepsiCo v Grupo Promer Mon Graphic C-281/10. In its ruling, the Court provides us with quite interesting guidelines on interpreting the concept of 'informed user'. 53 It should be noted, first, that Regulation No 6/2002 does not define the concept of the ‘informed user’. However, as

Copyright Subject Matter & Court of Justice of European Union

2011-10-12T11:06:00.003+02:00

I keep wondering how many 'subject matter cases' have pop up in the last few months, despite the fact that European law does not generally address the issue of copyright subject matter. The only exceptions are computer programs [Art. 1(3) and Recital 8 of Directive 2009/24/EC (previously 91/250/EEC)]; "A computer program shall be protected if it is an original in the sense that it is the

Slovakia: Creative Commons & Online Gambling

2011-10-06T14:50:00.000+02:00

Some things that happened in Slovakia in the last few weeks. Four members of the Slovak Parliament introduced a few articles amendment of the Slovak Copyright Act, which aims to reform very old rules on copyright licensing such as a requirement of written form. It would finally enable proper functioning of the Creative Commons or GNU licenses in Slovakia. The proposal itself is here. If you

Blog Update: Commentaries & Cases

2011-09-19T21:42:00.000+02:00

Dear readers, Huťko has great news for you. Begining this week, he launched two new sections of this blog. Hyperlink to both of them appear in the main menu. What are these new sections going to be about? - Acts & Commentaries [Work on this part will start with two on-going commentaries. One commentary will focus on Slovak Trade Mark Act and the second on selected provisions of e-Commerce

China: How to Restore Your Fake Apple Store (Picture)

2011-08-18T16:32:00.004+02:00

If you happened to own one of China's fake Apple stores, you may take some inspiration from one of your comrades in Zhongguancun, Beijing. This marvellous piece of art was reported by Global Times in today's newspapers that Huťko has bought here in Guangzhou. Its coverage starts like this There's something not quite right about the Apple logo on the back wall of Du Hongwei's small booth in

Czech republic: Liability of the Website for Third Party Comments

2011-08-03T13:35:00.004+02:00

Huťko knows that this article should have been here since May already, but he begs your pardon and hopes to redress this wrong in the following lines.On 17 March 2010, the City Court of Prague rendered probably the first Czech decision that involved the hosting safe harbor - so called Prolux case (10 Cm 47/2009-39). Huťko's article is here and the fist instance ruling here. As parties filed

Slovakia: Webhosting provider ordered to stop publishing certain infornation on the hosted website

2011-08-01T14:38:00.004+02:00

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China: Unusual use of the Trademarks (Pictures)

2011-07-24T07:03:00.008+02:00

Huťko is temporarily living in a Guangzhou down-town. Everything around him was built just several years or even months ago. The skyscrapers with numberless apartments are brand new, and so are the shops surrounding them. When walking the streets you can still grasp the atmosphere of the building site and study the signs of this novelty. The entire area is full of empty places that are meant to

Is CJEU case-law on Art. 5(1)(a) of TM Directive still in Conformity with TRIPS?

2011-06-26T13:16:00.006+02:00

This is just a brief thought I would like to share with my readers. I guess most of you are familiar with the case law of the Court of Justice concerning art. 5(1)(a) [case of so called double indetitity]. This provision says thatThe proprietor shall be entitled to prevent all third parties not having his consent from using in the course of trade: any sign which is identical with the trade

Brief Summary of April / May / June and Beyonds

2011-06-12T12:01:00.014+02:00

Huťko is back! Though he actually never left :) As you may have already noticed, last few months were more "quiet" than usual. This is due to the endless final exams period that was "entertaining" Huťko and consuming his entire time. Nevertheless this period is over, Huťko finally entered lawyer-dom and you can look forward to some very exciting blogposts in the near future. Why? Huťko is moving

AG's Opinion in Painer v Standard VerlagsGmbH

2011-05-07T23:29:00.006+02:00

On 12th of April 2011, AG Trstenjak delivered her Opinion in Case C-145/10, Painer v Standard VerlagsGmbH et al., in which the Court of Justice has been asked to clarify several issues concerning copyright protection of portrait photos and their use in news reports (reported by IPKat here). AG advised following:1. The notion of ‘close connection’ under Article 6(1) of Council Regulation (EC

Abuse of Copyright Exception for Personal Use

2011-04-30T22:27:00.003+02:00

Interesting news coming via Kluwer Copyright Blog by Tomáš Dobřichovský from Kříž & Bělina. Mr. Dobřichovský reports decision rendered by High Court in Prague (Vrchní soud v Praze) on 20th of April 2010.The defendant, the so-called “cooperative of CD co-owners” abuses the ‘personal use’ exeption under Article 30 of Copyright, together with the three-step-test under Article 29(1) of Copyright Act,