Policy Observatory
This morning the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued its decision in Case C-463/12 Copydan Båndkopi, a reference for a preliminary ruling from Denmark, seeking clarification on key questions relating to the so-called ‘private copying’ exception under Article 5(2)(b) of the Information Society Directive 2001/29.
The CJEU has just issued its 46-paragraph decision in Case C-30/14 Ryanair, a reference for a preliminary ruling from The Netherlands seeking clarification as regards the Database Directive. The CJEU ruled that the Database Directive only applies to databases protected by copyright or the sui generis right, and that the holder of a publicly accessible database is free to determine by contract and in compliance with the applicable national law the conditions of use of its database.
Case C-500/14 Ford Motor Company is a reference made by the Tribunale ordinario di Torino, Italy, for a preliminary ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on a matter that has been raised before the Italian courts on a number of occasions in recent years -- the unauthorised manufacture of "spare part" wheel trims bearing the trade marks of the original manufacturer in order to enable the purchaser to make sure that his purchase matches the appearance of the rest of his car. The subtle twist here is not however whether there is an infringement of any trade mark rights but whether there is a defence based on European design law.
On 5 September 2015, the European Copyright Society issued an Opinion on the conclusions presented on June 11, 2015 by the Advocate-General Pedro Cruz Villalón in the HP Belgium v. Reprobel-case pending before the Court of Justice of the EU (case C-572/13), following a request for preliminary ruling from the Brussels Court of Appeal (Belgium) lodged on 8 November 2013.