ObsBlogJur
I suggest this impressive list of law blogs: http://www.estig.ipbeja.pt/~obsblogjur/homepageit.html
The Obs Blog Jur is directed by professor Manuel David Masseno and it belongs to the LEFIS network http://www.lefis.org/
Thursday, February 1, 2007
International Trademark Association’s (INTA) Annual Meeting
INTA’s 127th Annual Meeting will be held at the San Diego Convention Center, 111 West Harbor Drive, San Diego, California, 92101 USA. Further information: http://www.inta.org/index.php?option=com_intaevents&task=eventdetails&id=586&catid=6&parentid=0&Itemid=67&getcontent=2
Apple’s FairPlay is illegal
Norway – Out-Law.com, the Norwegian Ombudsman, stated that Apple’s DRM, named FairPlay, is illegal. In fact, this DRM does not allow consumers to play music downloaded on any music device other than an iPod. Now Apple has two alternative ways. It can develop agreements with other companies producing music devices, licensing them its DRM system. Or it has to cut the FairPlay DRM off.
Resolving Patent Differences - IP Symposium
St. Peter’s College - Oxford - UK
2007 IP Symposium
“RESOLVING PATENT DIFFERENCES”
Trying Intellectual Property Cases in England, the U.S. and Canada
June 29-30, 2007
Further information: http://www.oiprc.ox.ac.uk/
Italian Supreme Court on peer-to-peer
Italy - A recent decision of the Court of Cassation has acquitted two students of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Turin, who have uploaded on a computer of their faculty some copyrighted software. These two students managed a server FTP, which is a technology that deeply differs from the peer-to-peer technology.
The judges held that the concept of “gainful intent”, mentioned by article 171-ter of the Italian Copyright Law, must necessarily consist in a patrimonial benefit and not merely in a generic benefit.The association FIMI strongly remarked that this decision does not change anything in peer-to-peer regulation in
Italy. In fact, in this case, judges held on an infringement committed in 1999, before the modifications of the Italian copyright law of 2004. Also SIAE has condemned the Court of Cassation decision. According to this association, the court misinterpreted the law. In fact, they point out that uploading does represent an economic benefit in any case, even if the user does not earn money. Then, there is a “gainful intent” even if there is not a direct financial benefit.
The judges held that the concept of “gainful intent”, mentioned by article 171-ter of the Italian Copyright Law, must necessarily consist in a patrimonial benefit and not merely in a generic benefit.The association FIMI strongly remarked that this decision does not change anything in peer-to-peer regulation in
Italy. In fact, in this case, judges held on an infringement committed in 1999, before the modifications of the Italian copyright law of 2004. Also SIAE has condemned the Court of Cassation decision. According to this association, the court misinterpreted the law. In fact, they point out that uploading does represent an economic benefit in any case, even if the user does not earn money. Then, there is a “gainful intent” even if there is not a direct financial benefit.
Child Pornography Decree
Italy - The Ministry of Communication and the Ministry for Reforms and Innovations in the Public Administration has passed a decree on child pornography.According to this decree, the National Centre for the fight against child pornography on the Internet will communicate to connectivity suppliers (i.e. access providers) a list of websites that they have to filters. ISPs are expected to block the access to these websites within six hours from the receiving of the communication from the Centre.Afterwards, ISPs have to communicate to the Centre that they have blocked the websites. The formalities concerning this communication are not regulated yet. The decree holds a double-filtering. ISPs must be equipped in order to block the listed websites: a) within 60 days after the publication of the decree in the Official Gazette at the minimum the relevant “domain name”;b) within 120 days starting from the same date the relevant “IP address”.Anti-child pornography associations welcomed the decree. However, they underlined that this decree can not be considered as a definitive resolution of the problem, considering the other forms of sexual enticement of minors online (e.g. chat rooms or newsgroups) which can not be avoided by filters.On the other hand, ISPs stressed that blocking IP number will cause some troubles. In fact, ISPs assign the same dynamic IP number to 5,000 users. It means that, pursuant the indications of the Ministry of Communications, they threat to block thousands of websites.
