Sunday Surprises

Plenty events, interesting articles and opportunities to look forward to in the coming months!

The Law Society is looking for a new committee member. If you are interested in this great opportunity, click here for more information. The deadline has been postponed to Tuesday 17 April.

Events

On Thursday 19 April, PRS for Music will host the PRS Explores: Emerging Piracy Trends session delving into music piracy and new emerging piracy trends. As piracy evolves away from ad-funded models, pirates are moving towards crypto-currencies such as Bitcoin and finding other routes to turn a profit. The session will assess recent developments and future advances, and discuss ways the creative industries can find workable solutions to better safeguard creative content online. The event is free to attend, for more information and registration see here. 

In the framework of the Salone del Mobile in Milan, the law firms Mondini Rusconi Studio Legale and Avvocati Associati Franzosi-Dal Negro-Setti will organize a seminar/open round table discussing the Legal protection of design in the era of artificial intelligence: creativity, materials and technologies, bringing together to the discussion legal, design and technology practitioners. The event will be held on April 19, for more information, see here.

Also on 19 April, the Women in IP network of IP Inclusive will be participating in the AIPLA Women In IP Law Committee’s Global Networking Event in Cambridge, Manchester (hosted by Mewburn Ellis LLP, email Sarah Brearley) , London, Bristol (hosted by Haseltine Lake, email heremarketing@haseltinelake.com) and Glasgow. all types of IP professionals are welcome to attend the event, including paralegals, patent and trade mark administrators, patent searchers, IPO Examiners, trainees, patent attorneys, trade mark attorneys, IP solicitors and barristers. For more information on the signle events, click on the links of the relevant location.

OxFirst will host a Webinar on IP Valuation for Wealth Generation on 24 April, discussing about the how the adequate valuation of IP plays a crucial element in vital markets for technology. The talk will be hosted by Dr. Guriqbal Jaiya. For more information and for registration, see here.

AI Kat

9^th GRUR meets Brussels Workship: Artificial Intelligence, Robotics & IP - What’s at stake? Artificial intelligence is on the rise. This has legal implications not only for areas like safety and security, liability or contract law but also for intellectual property. The workshop aims at providing a concise overview of the emerging issues. The event will be held on 5 June, for more information and registration, see here.

IPKat has already talked about the Music and Copyright series of events organized by the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG). We wanted to point out to two more workshops Copyright and Music in the Global South: Navigating International Agreements, Piracy Practices, and the Protection of Cultural Heritage and From Spotify to YouTube – Legal Potentials and Challenges for Platforms, taking place on 6 June and 13 September, respectively. For more information, see here.

Articles

A new article by academics Bhaven Sampat and Kenneth Shadlen looks at pharmaceutical patents in India. Using patent examining data, they find a sharp increase in the use of Section 3(d), which regulates ’secondary’ pharmaceutical patents, over time. Sampat BN, Shadlen KC (2018) Indian pharmaceutical patent prosecution: The changing role of Section 3(d). PLOS ONE 13(4): e0194714.

Decisions

GuestKat Mirko Brüß has previously written about Germany's approach to regulate "hate speech" here. The ('NetzDG') law was widely criticized for various reasons, one of them being that it incentivizes social networks to delete possibly lawful comments in case of doubt to avoid heavy fines. 

Another point of criticism was that while the law regulates the deletion of unlawful content, no mechanism was provided for users to have falsely deleted (legal) content restored. 

Apart from a lack of regulation in the NetzDG on this issue, a Berlin Court has just issued an ex-parte decision (case No 31 O 21/18) against Facebook, essentially obliging the social network to restore one of the plaintiff's post that had been deleted by the network. Due to the nature of ex-parte decisions in Germany there are currently no written reasons available. However, the German Newspaper “Zeit” reports some details of the case. The plaintiff had commented on an article in the "Basler Zeitung" (a Swiss Newspaper) and written: 

"Die Deutschen verblöden immer mehr. Kein Wunder, werden sie doch von linken Systemmedien mit Fake News über 'Facharbeiter', sinkende Arbeitslosenzahlen oder Trump täglich zugemüllt."

This roughly translates to:

„The Germans are getting dumber every day. This is no wonder, since they are fed with Fake News about ‘skilled workers’, dropping unemployment rates and Trump by left media outlets every day.”

Facebook deleted this comment and banned the plaintiff’s account for 30 days, citing a breach of Facebooks content guidelines and TOS. In court, the plaintiff argued that his comment did not breach any laws and that he had a “contract” with Facebook. This “contract” supposedly allowed Facebook to use the Plaintiff’s data (Cambridge Analytica, anyone?) while on the other hand obliging Facebook to publish any comment by the plaintiff that was within the rule of law.

It will be interesting to see how Facebook reacts to this judgment. Since the decision was made ex-parte, Facebook can now request an oral hearing, after which the court will again decide, this time with written reasons. This GuestKat is very much looking forward to a written decision on the case and will keep you updated on any developments.

Summer courses

This summer, the Institute for Information Law (IViR), affiliate of the University of Amsterdam, will hold its annual Summer Courses on International Copyright Law and on Privacy Law and Policy. The courses are held simultaneously from 2 to 6 July 2018 and take place in the city center of Amsterdam. Both courses are aimed at private sector lawyers, government officials, NGO staff, academics, PhD students and others involved in questions of copyright law. Enrollment is limited to 25 participants. For information on the faculty, program and application please visit the website of the International Copyright Law and Privacy Law and Policy Summer Courses. For questions, contact course organizer Stef van Gompel.

The University of Gdansk, Poland by the Centre for Intellectual Property Law, together with Chicago - Kent College, School of Law will organize the IP Law Summer School “IP in the Creative Sector”. The Summer School is project of international breadth, aimed to educate its participants in the scope of Intellectual Property Law. We will be focusing on the Creative Sector (including strong emphasis on Fashion Law), new technologies, but won’t be limited to that. For more information on this project, see here.

Image credits: Robocat (Battle Cats game), Dutch Nyancat