Latest Managing Copyright News

• Interview: Ricardo Blancaflor, Philippines IP Office

  The Philippines' decision to join the Madrid Agreement will be good for businesses, says Blancaflor, in an exclusive interview. Law firms need to realise that their clients pull the strings

• Interview: Rosa Wilkinson, innovation director at the UK IPO

  Rosa Wilkinson joined the IPO in September last year after working with UK Trade and Investment and Lloyds Bank, where she served as director of public policy and regulation. She tells Emma Barraclough about her IP role

• Quiz of the week – INTA Annual Meeting 2012

  This week’s IP quiz questions all relate to last week’s INTA Annual Meeting in Washington DC. How many can you answer?

• What’s on this week

  Managing IP lists the IP conferences, decisions and meetings taking place this week

• INTA’s Unreal campaign challenges teens

  “Who has downloaded music?” asked Christopher Robertson of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “I promise I’m not going to take any names.” At this, nearly everyone raised a hand. The better question, perhaps, was who hadn’t illegally downloaded music.

• Analysis: What the SAS ruling means for computer programs

  Computer programs cannot be protected by copyright under the EU’s Software Directive, but could be eligible for protection under other European laws

• When the content is the trademark

  In 2000, a bookstore owner in the UK found a poster in the shop with the words “Keep Calm and Carry On.” The owner hung it in the store and, when customers inquired about it, began selling copies. Since then, the phrase and the lone graphic—the crown of King George VI­­—have become iconic. Others have even registered the phrase as a trademark.

• Interview: Julie Alexa Strauss, Feld Entertainment

  Julie Alexa Strauss of Feld Entertainment describes her love of live entertainment, the battle to enforce trademark rights, and why she wants outside counsel to understand her business.

Canada

• Is C-11 strong enough to catch the “bad guys”?

  At the Canadian copyright reform hearings this month, witnesses said Bill C-11’s so-called enablement provision was insufficient to catch the “bad guys” – such as isoHunt and Megaupload

• Bieber’s lesson: why Bill C-11 must strike the right balance

  If Canadian legislators are wondering what the future of copyright should be, one domain name service provider thinks they should look no further than the new Justin Bieber movie

• Canada to push through copyright bill by year-end

  Canada could overhaul its copyright rules before the end of the year after the country’s Conservative Party cemented its support in the May federal elections by taking a majority of seats

• Music publisher: bill C-11 favours “corporate music piracy”

  Music industry representatives have charged that Canadian copyright reform does not provide strong enough remedies against digital piracy

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Broadcasting

• Analysis: Premier League ruling a relief for digital industry

  Today’s EU judgment on football broadcasts declined to address licences in other media, in contrast with the Advocate General’s opinion in the case

• Analysis: landlords may not benefit from Premier League case

  Publicans who raised a glass to celebrate today’s ruling from the Court of Justice on Premier League matches might find they choke on their drink by the time they reach paragraph 183

• Premier League loses right to territorial licences

  The Court of Justice of the EU has ruled that the Premier League cannot partition national markets for its football broadcasts, giving greater detail on copyright than the Advocate General

• Strictly come formatting: The Managing IP guide to protecting TV formats

  The BBC is taking legal action in Italy to prevent a rival version of its hit show Strictly Come Dancing from being shown by Silvio Berlusconi’s television network Mediaset

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Compilations

• Companies can be authors, says Singapore court

  A Singapore court has ruled that copyright can be owned by companies as well as individuals, in a dispute between two horse racing publications

• Court rules fixture lists protected by copyright

  Lists of UK football fixtures can be protected as databases under copyright law, Mr Justice Floyd ruled in the England and Wales High Court last week

• Courts get tough on copyright compilers

  A decision by a court in Australia last week could make it harder for compilers of factual information to protect their work under copyright law

• Australia rethinks rules on copyright for compilers

  Australia's highest court recently narrowed the scope of copyright protection for compilations and databases

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