Around the IP Blogs

Waiting for the spring

Copyright

The Cyberleagle Blog analysed the implications of Brexit for the UK’s intermediary liability system. After an early commitment to maintain the system, introduced through Arts. 12-15 of the Electronic Commerce Directive, the UK is now considering introducing additional obligations for intermediaries, which would no longer be aligned with the “no general obligation to monitor” clause of Art. 15.

The Kluwer Copyright Blog discussed a recent ruling by the French Supreme Court, where the Court applied Art. 2(7) of the Berne Convention to a case on possible protection of a work of applied art by copyright. Basing itself on the reciprocity requirement under the Berne Convention, the French court relied on US copyright law (from where the work of applied art, for which the protection was claimed, had originated) to define whether the plaintiff’s Tulip chairs are protected by copyright in France. Relying on this article (which the blog described as “rarely used”), he Court ruled that because US copyright law does not protect works of applied art in this case, the so-called Knoll “Tulip” chair, the work would also not be protected in France

Trade marks

TheFashionLaw blog addressed an interesting question of copyright ownership in fashion campaigns, which, due to the pandemic, are increasingly being shot through FaceTime, often by the models themselves, under the direction of a photographer who guides the shooting remotely. The blog looks at this recent trend of “models-as-authors” against the background of existing US caselaw on joint authorship

Patents

The Juve Patent Blog informed on heated discussion around the German Patent Law reform. This reform, in its current wording, will affect the provisions on injunctive relief, which is seen by major industrial companies as leading to a a weakening of automatic injunctions [see an earlier discussion on automatic injunction by The IPKat, here]. This comes in parallel to a reference, sent by the Munich Regional Court to the CJEU, concerning the possibility of granting preliminary injunctions against those patents ,which have not been tested in an opposition or nullity proceeding. The FossPatent discussed this reference here.