Around the IP blogs!

Let's go back a few days to highlight some of the interesting IP posts out there.

This issue focuses on copyright and patents; highlights including copyright protection of choreography and the introduction of the Hatch-Waxman Act in the US

Copyright

With an eye to copyright-related issues in music and dance, The 1709 Blog featured two posts by Marie-Andree Weiss: the first concerns an infringement of economic and moral rights claim for the unauthorised use in an album cover of a painting (A Painting Given to Eric Clapton Cannot be Used on Album Cover Rules French Supreme Court). The second, with a touch of festive mood discusses the protection of choreography (Candy Cane, Carlton, and The Floss: Are These Dances Protected by Copyright?).

In A radiant heart for Madrid Patricia Mariscal (Elzaburu) on the Kluwer Copyright Blog analyses the dismissal by the Madrid Court of Appeal of an appeal concerning a figurative mark, considered constituting plagiarism of the work of the late artist Keith Haring. 

In a video (rather than in a blog post), the editor in chief of IP-PorTal, Dick van Engelen (Professor of Intellectual Property Litigation and Transaction Practice with Maastricht University) explains the AG's Opinion in the Levola/Smilde (Editor in chief Dick van Engelen on copyright protection of food products). For a written recap of the decision, see Eleonora's post here.

In her guest post on the Trust in IP blog, Urška Petrovčič discusses how the decision in MEO v. Autoridade da Concorrência clarified the circumstances for the triggering of liability for price discrimination under Article 102(c) TFUE; one of the parties to the dispute is Portuguese collecting society GDA  (Will the CJEU’s Decision in MEO Change FRAND Disputes Globally?).

Are APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) copyrightable? Michael Risch of the Written Description Blog shares his opinion on the subject and with a view to the ongoing Oracle v. Google case in  All about IP & Price Discrimination.

Patents

Mike Mireles on IP Finance discusses the Hatch-Waxman Act, which was introduced in both the US House of Representatives and Senate. The Act would afford certain advantages to generics wishing to challenge brand-name drug patents. More on  Hatch-Waxman Integrity Act is Introduced in U.S. House of Representatives.

Was there really no reason for (any) SPC-referrals after Medeva? Some thoughts about Judge Meier-Beck’s interpretation of the CJEU’s case law. Philipp Widera (Vossius & Partner) on the Kluwer Patent Blog discusses the presentation given by Judge Meier-Beck, presiding Judge of the German Federal Supreme Court, at the German Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (GRUR).

PatentlyO features two guest posts: one by Profs. Frakes and Wasserman on Irrational Ignorance at the Patent Office and the other by Prof. Yelderman on Which Kinds of Printed Publications Invalidate Patents in Court?

And finally, the invention of the week featured in the European Patent Case-law blog is body teleportation system for a leap forward into 2019!