Around the IP blogs

A Matter of Interpretation: Libraries Land a ‘Victory’ in CJEU’s Judgment on E-Lending

Kluwer Copyright Blog provides the full story leading up to and including the CJEU’s preliminary ruling in Vereniging Openbare Bibliotheken v. Stichting Leenrecht (10 November 2016, case C‑174/15), which found that digital lending should not be excluded from the Rental and Lending Rights Directive’s scope in all cases.

Your move Merpel

Chess Tournament Hot News Misappropriation Prelim Denied

Schimmerlegal reports that a preliminary injunction was denied where the Plaintiff alleged that Defendant’s actions constituted ‘hot news misappropriation’ under New York common law. The circumstances of the case where such that the plaintiff organises and webcasts live chess tournaments, the defendant provides a live feed of the games, displayed on a virtual chess board.

Richard Prince May Offer the SDNY Another Chance to Define Transformative Use of a Work

Richard Prince and the Blum and Poe Gallery were sued again on November 16 for copyright infringement of a photograph in the New Portraits exhibition in Eric McNatt v. Richard Prince, 1:16-cv-08896, Southern District of New York (SDNY). Photographer Eric McNatt alleges that Richard Prince reproduced a photograph taken by Plaintiff of Kim Gordon, a founding member and bassist of Sonic Youth, by downloading it from the web, where it had been published with a copyright notice, and uploading it on his own Instagram account. 1709 Blog suggests this is an opportunity for the court to provide some clarity on transformative use.

Nl – Synthon V. Astellas / Supreme Court / Referral Cjeu

The Court of Appeal Arnhem-Leeuwarden asked several preliminary questions to the Supreme Court with regard to the applicable criteria for an exhibition claim based on art. 843a Dutch Code of Civil Procedure (DCCP) in conjunction with art. 1019a DCCP. The case is available in Dutch and luckily EPLAW Blog talks us through the response of the Supreme Court, which included the decision to apply to the European Court of Justice in order to obtain answers to two of the three questions.

Buying Time for Christmas: a guide for UK Trademark Opponents and Applicants

Worried about meeting those trade mark evidence deadlines over the festive period? SOLO IP gives us some helpful tips on applying for an extension and other ways to buy time!

Competition Law in the Pharmaceutical Sector: Aspen Fined for Excessive Pricing in Italy

The Italian Competition Authority (ICA) fined Aspen Pharmacare 5 million Euro for violation of art. 102, letter a) of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) when increasing its prices for some of its oncohematological drugs up to 1500%. Aspen has communicated that it will appeal. Trustinip reviews the decision together the previous case law, which gives rise to uncertainties in relation to assessing reasonable costs.

Master-Puzzlers at the Ready

German toy company Simba Toys GmbH & Co. KG appealed a judgement of the General Court relating to EU trademark no. 162784, showing the three-dimensional representation of a Rubik’s cube. The CJEU annulled the decision of the General Court, indicating that the General Court had interpreted the criteria for assessing Article 7(1)(e)(ii) of Regulation No 40/94 (now replaced by Regulation 207/2009) too narrowly. As such, Kluwer Trade Mark Blog explains, the shape of product was considered necessary to obtain a technical function and cannot be registered.