“The rock dinosaurs of the 1960s are in line for a spectacular windfall after the EU announced plans yesterday to extend musicians’ entitlement to retrospective royalties from 50 to 95 years.”
The Times, 17th July 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“The European Commission has proposed a Directive that would give performers rights over recordings for 95 years after the recording. The change would give a player on a recording rights for the same length of time as the writer of the material.”
OUT-LAW.com, 16th July 2008
Source: www.out-law.com
“The Central London County Court has ordered four BitTorrent users to pay a video games company £750 interim damages following a landmark victory by no win, no fee copyright lawyers.”
The Register, 2nd July 2008
Source: www.theregister.co.uk
“Virgin Media has sent about 800 letters to customers warning them that they should not be downloading illegal music files via file-sharing sites.”
BBC News, 3rd July 2008
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“A man who ran a business selling computer chips that helped games consoles play pirated games has had his conviction for copyright infringement overturned on appeal. The High Court judge called him ‘fortunate’ and criticised the prosecution case.”
OUT-LAW.com, 30th June 2008
Source: www.out-law.com
R v Higgs [2008] EWCA Crim 1324; [2008] WLR (D) 211
“To establish the offence of selling a device which is primarily designed, produced, or adapted for the purpose of enabling or facilitating the circumvention of effective technological measures, it must be shown that the technological measure concerned physically prevents infringement of copyright, and is not merely a discouragement or commercial hindrance to copyright infringement.The Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) so held in allowing an appeal by the defendant, Neil Stanley Higgs, against his conviction on 19 October 2007 in the Crown Court at Bristol before Her Honour Judge Hagen of 26 offences contrary to s 296ZB of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.”
WLR Daily, 26th June 2008
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
“Legal broadband subscription services that permit file sharing may appear on the market by the year’s end, according to music industry sources – after government intervention brought both music suppliers and ISPs to the table.”
The Register, 26th June 2008
Source: www.theregister.co.uk
“A call to relax the law on making workplaces pay a licence fee for playing music has been made by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).”
BBC News, 17th June 2008
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“A fascinating survey of music consumption conducted for British Music Rights has good and bad news for the beleaguered music business.”
The Register, 16th June 2008
Source: www.theregister.co.uk
“Teenagers and students have an average of more than 800 illegally copied songs each on their digital music players, the largest academic survey of young people’s music ownership has found.”
The Times, 16th June 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“The Ministry of Defence has launched a legal battle against a high street shopping chain because a duvet cover features the RAF’s insignia.”
Daily Telegraph, 12th June 2008
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“The age of illegal music downloads could soon be over. The UK’s largest provider of home broadband is to warn internet users building up vast libraries of music that they could be prosecuted.”
The Independent, 7th June 2008
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“Next and Asda are locked in a legal battle over claims that Britain’s second-biggest supermarket chain has copied the fashion retailer’s clothing designs.”
The Times, 31st May 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“Britain’s artistic community is battling against leading auction houses and dealers to bring in a law forcing the payment of a royalty on artists’ works for 70 years after their deaths — in line with writers and musicians.”
The Times, 27th May 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“Record labels are losing their battle with digital piracy as the number of people who regularly download songs legally falls back, research will claim today.”
The Guardian, 15th May 2008
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A Doctor Who fan who created knitting patterns for the programme’s monsters and gave them away online has been told by the BBC to stop or face the threat of court action.”
The Times, 14th May 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
JHP Ltd v BBC Worldwide Ltd and another [2008] EWHC 757 (Ch); [2008] WLR (D) 120
“In order to succeed in a claim for copying an original work, the claimant had to establish on the balance of probabilities that the defendant had copied a substantial part of that work.”
WLR Daily, 21st April 2008
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
“The European Parliament has said that copyright-infringing music and film file-sharing should not be criminalised. The Parliament has said that file-sharers should not be prosecuted as criminal offenders unless they seek to profit from the sharing.”
OUT-LAW.com, 21st April 2008
Source: www.out-law.com
“Today a high court battle over who owns the rights to tell the story of Doctor Who’s best-known adversaries was won by BBC Worldwide, the corporation’s commercial arm.”
The Guardian, 16th April 2008
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The UK music industry has rejected the Government’s proposal to legalise the transfer of music from CDs to MP3 players without a levy. It has asked for a tax on devices like Apple iPods which it says should compensate artists for the transfer.”
OUT-LAW.com, 15th April 2008
Source: www.out-law.com
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